Box Story: The Municipal Services Office

The Municipal Services Office facilitates an integrated approach to town management, routing public feedback on matters ranging from public housing to nature and greenery to the proper agency (Unsplash)

Background

Municipal services in Singapore are delivered by various government agencies and town councils. This sometimes leads to fragmentation and inefficiencies in service delivery. Singaporeans used to have to direct their feedback to the correct agency, and time was often wasted if feedback was sent to the wrong place.

As Singapore’s population grew and the required services increased in complexity, the need for a more coordinated and integrated approach to municipal services became increasingly apparent.

Role of the Municipal Services Office

The Municipal Services Office (MSO) was set up on 1 October 2014 to improve the government’s overall coordination and delivery of municipal services by various public agencies in Singapore. It was envisioned as a coordinating body, bringing together various stakeholders, including government agencies, town councils, and community partners to work towards common goals and address shared challenges.

The municipal services coordinated by the MSO include maintenance of greenery and local infrastructure (such as roads and footpaths) and upkeeping the cleanliness of public areas. As part of the effort to provide integrative solutions, the MSO also partners with different government agencies to share and monitor complaints on municipal matters, so they can collaborate in resolving cases.

Solving Local Issues Effectively

The MSO has implemented “smart” technologies to facilitate expedited resolution of municipal issues that cut across different agencies’ purviews. For instance, through the OneService App for smartphones, residents can snap photos of trouble spots, tag on location information, and send their feedback without the need to know whose responsibility it is. The app will route it to the appropriate agency or town council to resolve the issue and provide timely responses to the feedback provider. The MSO also worked with the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) to develop and launch the OneService Kaki Chatbot for WhatsApp and Telegram users in 2021, and for Instagram users in 2023, enabling residents to easily report municipal issues through these commonly used social messaging applications.

The OneService Kaki Chatbot and OneService App (Municipal Services Office)

Because of their convenience, these channels are also helpful in enhancing community engagement. They empower residents to actively participate in the improvement of their living environment and be more involved in the upkeep of public amenities and infrastructure.

As the MSO consolidates all the data and feedback on municipal services and issues, it also provides an opportunity for agencies to make use of the input from residents to inform their decision making processes. For instance, the MSO helps agencies to identify priority areas for improvement and allocation of resources based on the community’s needs. The MSO's common data sharing and monitoring function has also contributed to greater coordination and collaboration between different stakeholders such as government agencies, town councils and community partners. These co-created solutions have been more effective and holistic to address service gaps.