By By Murib Morpi

Customers happy with UTC services, more to be set up in Sabah – PM

KOTA KINABALU: Feedback received on the performance of government agencies at Sabah’s Urban Transformation Centre (UTC) has been off the chart, with customers saying they are more than satisfied with the quality of services provided, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Najib, who officially launched the centre last night, said all reports he received on the operation of UTC Sabah so far showed that the public here were happy with the friendly and speedy services provided.

“I am sure the huge turnout and the jolly spirit of everyone here tonight showed that the rakyat in Sabah are satisfied with the services they received at this UTC. I have received reports after reports and all of the feedback showed that the customers are very, very satisfied,” he said.

The prime minister commended the State Government, its Economic Planning Unit and Sabah Credit Corporation for making the setting up of the centre a reality through close collaboration with the Federal Finance Minister.

He said the centre, which houses 41 state and federal departments and agencies, had fulfilled all its three criteria, which is to have a high impact on the people, implemented in the shortest period possible, and required only a minimal cost.

In fact, encouraged by the performance of the centre, which was the sixth of such facility set up in the country, Najib said he would consider the request from Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman to set up more UTC in Sabah.

Across the nation, he said more than 7.5 million have benefited from the services provided by the full f ledged UTCs in Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Pahang, Perak, Kedah, Johor, Sarawak and Sabah and a mini UTC at KL Central.

“There is no other country in the whole world having the same centre like UTC, which provides various government services under one roof from 8am to 9pm daily... Coincidentally, I was told by a minister from Sabah that he had used the service of UTC to renew his passport. He queued like any other customer and he got his new passport in just 40 minutes.

“This is just one story, there are many others, people changing their MyKad, paying their tax. Even getting a marriage certificate is faster at UTC, I believe. This is all a result from the sensitivity of the Barisan Nasional government, the best example of a government for the people and by the people,” he said.

Najib said the proven concept of UTC could be expanded further and adopted in other areas of the government services, towards continuously improving the quality of service delivery given to the rakyat.

Malaysia, he said, was on the right track in providing the best services in its public sector, noting that the country has been ranked 18th out of 189 economies in the world for the easiest place to conduct businesses, climbing two spots from last year to beat even the more developed countries such as Taiwan, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Japan.

Malaysia is also ranked third out of 22 countries as Best Emerging Economy by Bloomberg, he added.

“If we can continue forward on this path, I believe there is no reason why we can’t achieve high income, advanced economy by year 2020,” he said.

Earlier in his speech, Musa proposed more UTC to be set up in other districts, including Sandakan and the interior, to allow easier access to government services being provided at the centre for Sabahans from across the State.

He informed that over 771,000 people had visited the centre since commencing operation last December.