Budget 2018 Speech by Minister Grace Fu: Effective Solutions, Efficient Operations in Service of Our Residents

Mar 6, 2018

Introduction: Improvements in Feedback Management

Every day, government agencies and Town Councils (TCs) receive some 3,000 feedback on municipal issues from residents. Most of them are straight forward and dealt with quickly. A good number require multiple agencies to work together to resolve them. These issues could range from the provision and maintenance of local infrastructure, such as footpaths and railings across different land boundaries, to complex problems such as hoarding of items in HDB flats.

MSO was formed three years ago to improve coordination for these cross-cutting issues. To Mr Ong Teng Koon’s query, I am pleased to report that good progress had been made by the government agencies, TCs and MSO in improving municipal service delivery. It now takes 11 working days to resolve 90% of complex feedback involving multiple parties, a marked improvement from the 16 working days in end-2015.  The various initiatives undertaken by MSO to improve coordination, such as appointing lead agencies to settle municipal issues regardless of land ownership, have borne fruit. These initiatives have resulted in the public’s needs being addressed more effectively and more promptly.

It has also engendered a culture change. Our agencies are working better together. They are adopting a more collaborative and resident-centric approach in handling inter-agency issues. There is a shift in mind-sets in serving the public.

One such example was how NParks and HDB worked together on a request for a staircase connecting Clementi Avenue 6 and Ulu Pandan Park Connector. It seemed like a simple request but there were complications. The area was earmarked for future public housing development and hence the staircase had to be planned with future developments in mind. NParks dealt with the presence of high tension cables underground by using light weight precast slabs to minimise deep excavation works. A ramp was also thoughtfully added at the side of the staircase for cyclists to access the Park Connector. There are many of such examples, which illustrates how our agencies are working well together, and addressing residents’ needs holistically.

Effective Solutions for our Residents

While we see more of such efforts, there remain municipal issues falling in grey areas where MSO can play a role to help. As Mr Ong had rightly pointed out, MSO focuses heavily on improving inter-agency processes which are not apparent to the public. Pigeon-related nuisance is one such example. TCs oversee the cleaning of common areas, AVA takes enforcement action against pigeon feeders, while NEA takes enforcement action in instances where high-rise littering is involved. Residents’ Committee of PA are often rope in to counsel the feeders.  These agencies work together in order for pigeon-related issues to be resolved holistically. To support their efforts, MSO has helped to formulate end-to-end workflows to clarify roles and responsibilities, and tighten coordination in their handling of such pigeon-related nuisance.

Similar processes have also been developed by MSO for other complex issues including animal hoarding, involving AVA, HDB, NEA, AIC, and social welfare agencies; and the management of outdoor display areas, involving TCs and SCDF. Moving forward, MSO will continue to engage our residents and stakeholders to identify more of such grey areas where we can improve coordination and support the agencies and TCs in their efforts to serve residents better.

Transforming the OS Platforms to Meet Residents’ Needs

As we improve processes, we also need to ensure that our platforms and solutions continue to meet residents’ evolving needs.

Mr Ong had asked about the take-up of the OneService platforms to-date, and plans to use the platform to better reach out to our residents. In 2017 alone, the number of registered users and cases submitted grew by 43% and 100% respectively, reaching 114,000 registered users and 153,000 cases submitted. This is the result of MSO constantly improving the OS platforms to better serve the needs of our residents.

We introduced the OS Application in 2015. Back then, it had six reporting categories and allowed residents to report municipal issues to government agencies. Today, this has expanded to eleven categories, covering not just municipal issues under the purview of government agencies, but also those of TCs and even private entities. For example, the “Facilities in HDB Estates” and “Shared Bicycles” categories introduced last year allow members of public to report municipal issues in HDB estates to the TCs, and indiscriminately parked “Shared Bicycles” to bike operators. This makes it more convenient for residents to report on issues they encounter, and also enable government agencies and TCs to collect data more systematically to guide future planning and operations through studying trends and analysing hotspots. Going forward, MSO would also incorporate data collected from relevant elements of our Smart Nation infrastructure such as sensors to further enhance our analysis of problem areas and move upstream to better anticipate the needs of our residents.

MSO has also introduced the OS Portal, which aggregates municipal information for residents. This includes information from diverse sources which are of interest to residents, such as block washing schedules, e-waste recycling points, and HDB’s Welcome Parties.

Our goal is to transform the OS channels into a one-stop community platform that can meet residents’ diverse municipal needs. In the coming year, besides providing feedback and accessing information, residents will also be able to use the OS channels to perform transactions, participate in community events and give their feedback and comments on local improvement programmes to help co-create their living environment. In the long term, we hope to make the OS channels a one-stop platform to address their municipal needs comprehensively. 

Through the use of digital technology, MSO aims to bring about greater convenience to our residents and also to make it easier for residents to engage with government agencies and TCs and actively participating in shaping their living environment.

Enable greater efficiency in service delivery across agencies and TCs

As MSO works with our partners to improve the effectiveness of our solutions and platforms, we also work with government agencies to improve productivity and cost-efficiency. This is especially important in the manpower-lean environment today. Mr Baey Yam Keng asked if there is scope for greater integration in the area of cleaning between the work of government agencies and TCs in order to achieve greater efficiency.

That is a good suggestion, which MSO will study. However, MSO wants to move even more upstream, by improving processes at the planning and design stage. Good planning and design makes our municipal infrastructure cheaper to upkeep in the long run. For a start, MSO and NEA are working with infrastructure agencies, in consultation with the TCs, to establish design specifications and guidelines that will facilitate cleaning operations, including automated cleaning operations. The guidelines on the design of new public infrastructure will make them easier to clean and support mechanisation efforts by cleaning contractors.

Beyond cleaning, MSO is also looking at how to improve processes to facilitate timely and efficient responses to local infrastructure requests. While there are well established funding schemes, such as LTA’s Walk2Ride Scheme, and MND’s Estate Upgrading Programme (EUP), funding gaps for small-scale infrastructure at the local level do exist from time to time. MSO had thus piloted a small funding scheme to plug this gap. Some 140 infrastructure requests were received for the pilot. These are small-scale but nevertheless important requests that make a positive difference to residents’ daily living, such as having handrails up a footbridge crossing Geylang River, and lightings along a footpath near Punggol Point LRT station.

With the success of the pilot, MSO will be launching the Local Infrastructure Projects scheme (or LIP) for small-scale local infrastructure on State Land in 2018. For a start, the LIP scheme will have an initial budget $3.6M for the next two years.

Besides the LIP, MSO has also worked with our partner agencies to develop escalation mechanisms so that conflicting demands or constraints among the agencies do not result in undue delays in the planning, development and maintenance of connectivity-related infrastructure. This will help to bridge the gap, and support our agencies in meeting local infrastructure needs of residents more responsively.

Conclusion

To conclude, municipal service delivery has made significant progress. Leveraging on the combined efforts of government agencies, TCs and residents, MSO has worked to reduce overlaps and duplications, plug gaps in the municipal landscape and deliver better living experiences for our residents. MSO will continue to facilitate collaboration, build capabilities and harness technology, so as to enable the delivery of cost-effective and quality municipal services for residents and a better living environment for all.


More resources:
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MSO Factsheets: Effective Service Delivery, Efficient Operations