NBOS HELPED GOVT SAVE RM2B
It enables agencies to provide more efficient services to the people, says Najib
THE implementation of the National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS) programme has allowed the government to spend money optimally while providing the best services to the people.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said this was evident in the nationwide Fiesta NBOS programme, which sought to make it easier for rural folk to engage with government bodies and conduct their daily activities.
He said NBOS’s success had quashed the opposition’s allegations that the government was running out of money.
“The opposition makes all kinds of allegations to confuse people.
“It is not that the government has no money. We have the money, which we put to good use to bring better results. Our spending is optimum,” said Najib, who is also Pekan member of parliament, at the launch of the Fiesta NBOS programme in Padang Kampung Baru Salong here yesterday.
He said NBOS encouraged close cooperation between government agencies and the people, and helped the agencies to provide more efficient, cost-effective and synergistic programmes.
“For example, we have opened 20 Urban Transformation Centres (UTCs) nationwide, including in Kuantan.
“The UTCs have helped the government to save RM2 billion because we gather all the services under one roof,” he said, adding that 51 million people had visited UTCs, with 5.9 million in Kuantan alone.
Earlier, at the same event, Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah said NBOS had succeeded in ensuring that more than 80 ministries, departments and agencies came together to provide the most efficient services to the people.
“More than 80 government agencies are operating together and making government services faster and less time consuming. Villagers no longer need to travel far to get things settled.
“There are more than 113 initiatives within NBOS, among them is the UTC, which offer various services, such as the 1Malaysia Clinic that cost only RM1.
“Only in Malaysia do we have such clinics. Even the United States, an advanced country, has nothing like this.”
He dismissed claims that the government was bankrupt.
“If the country is bankrupt, then how can it pay salaries (of public servants)? How can there be projects being implemented and investments from abroad?
“Many nations, such as China and Japan, wish to invest in Malaysia because it is well governed.”
Present was Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.