Local Govt's One-stop Centres Begin Operations Wednesday

KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 (Bernama) -- All the 98 local government one-stop centres began operations Wednesday in efforts to improve the government's delivery system. Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said some of the centres had started their operations a few months ago following a directive by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi two months ago (April 13) to set up such centres.

"Until Tuesday, all local government authorities have set up their respective one-stop centres, which are being supervised by the respective state governments," he said at a special press conference at his ministry here. However, he said Sarawak and Sabah were not affected by the directive since the states had different laws and regulations.

The one-stop centres are set up to speed up processing, including for land applications for projects and approval for building plans. He said a new system would also be introduced for building approvals, where instead of the Certificate of Fitness for Occupation (CFO), a Certificate of Compliance and Completion (CCC) would be issued by professionals like architects and engineers for better guarantee on the safety of the buildings.

To meet the manpower requirement for the setting up of the one-stop centres, Ong said the Public Service Department had approved 533 permanent posts, some of which were filled last month. He said the ministry would also set up an institute to train local government officers to beef up their performance and delivery system.

He said a total of 2,055 applications for various approvals were received by the one-stop centres since two months ago.

"These applications are to be processed and settled before Oct 31," he added.

Source : BERNAMA