Oral answer by Ministry of National Development on the top five agencies commonly referred to by the Municipal Services Office and the average time taken to close the feedback loop

May 10, 2023

Question No: 4573

Question by: Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim

To ask the Minister for National Development (a) what are the top five agencies commonly referred to by the Municipal Services Office (MSO) in relation to cases lodged through the OneService App for the past three years; (b) what is the average time taken to close the feedback loop for those cases from each of those five agencies; and (c) whether the MSO independently tracks, audits or verifies that the feedback has been acted upon by the relevant agency.

Answer:

          HDB, LTA, NEA, NParks, and PUB collectively accounted for 53% of municipal feedback that came through the OneService App from 2020 to 2022.  The Town Councils handled another 44%. From 2020 to 2022, these 5 agencies on average took between 2 to 7 working days to close municipal feedback cases.

2.       MSO has been working with agencies to improve the timeliness, and more importantly the quality of their replies to municipal feedback.  For straightforward cases, agencies are expected to close the feedback loop only when they have resolved the issue on the ground, with a photo of the completed works where practicable. Such cases usually involve only one agency, and are of a nature where clear, concrete actions can be taken to resolve the issue. For example, repairing faulty lighting or a broken footpath. This focus on true case resolution has been well-received by residents.

3.       For transient issues like community noise, or complex cases like those involving anti-social behaviour and enforcement action, agencies will respond to feedback providers on an action plan and indicative timeline to address the issues. For such cases, time is needed for thorough investigation and enforcement action. In such instances, MSO tracks the recurrence of the issue, and works with the relevant agencies to better tackle the root causes.