The Mozambican government has launched Centro Pronto, a digital platform designed to simplify public access to services including passport issuance, national identity cards, driving licences, and residence documents for foreign nationals, with the aim of reducing bureaucracy, unnecessary travel, and waiting times at public institutions.

The platform was inaugurated this week in Maputo and developed by VFS Global in collaboration with the Agency for Digital Transformation and Innovation (ATDI), according to a report by Lusa on Friday. It combines an electronic portal, self-service kiosks, and in-person service counters linked to government systems.

In an initial phase, Centro Pronto is expected to handle passports, national identity cards, driving licences, and Identification and Residence Documents for Foreign Nationals, subject to implementation and validation by the relevant authorities. According to VFS Global, the platform is intended to complement existing service counters. “For citizens, this approach is designed to reduce unnecessary travel and waiting times, offering greater visibility and predictability throughout the entire process,” the company said in a statement.

Through the portal or the kiosks, users will be able to consult the requirements for each service, verify personal data, prepare applications, schedule appointments, and make digital payments. Each application will be assigned a unique tracking code, allowing citizens to monitor the status of their request without visiting a counter in person. At in-person service points, photographs, biometric data, and digital signatures may be collected depending on the document requested.

The platform’s promoters expect the system to make process management more efficient, improve service organisation, and generate reliable data to support public service planning.

Rollout will be gradual. Following Maputo, the platform is set to expand to Beira, in Sofala province, and to Nampula in the north of the country. At a later stage, Centro Pronto may also be extended to serve Mozambicans living abroad.

Jiten Vyas, Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Business Development at VFS Global, described the initiative as a step forward in the company’s collaboration with Mozambique. “Together with ATDI, we want to support a scalable approach that will allow us to expand, during the programme’s implementation, access to services for Mozambican citizens living abroad and, subsequently, enable Centro Pronto to extend its presence to other locations in Mozambique,” he said.

President Daniel Chapo argued that the digital transformation of the public administration must translate into genuine changes in procedures, the elimination of bureaucratic practices, and greater transparency in service delivery. “It is not enough to modernise equipment if procedures remain slow, complex, bureaucratic, and out of touch with people’s needs. We do not want to digitalise bureaucracy. We want to end unnecessary bureaucracy,” he declared.

Chapo also linked the digitalisation drive to the fight against so-called refrescos — informal payments associated with corruption in public service interactions. He further called for Centro Pronto to reach the entire country, including rural areas, so that modernisation is not confined to the main cities.