ThxPORTAL - My OnlinE InvestmenT ProgresS

2009/11/18

Minderjeet Kaur

KUALA LUMPUR: Government departments and agencies will slash expenditure from January to help reduce the fiscal deficit.

Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Sidek Hassan said yesterday that certain departments and agencies might get 13.7 per cent less.

He said the deductions would depend on specific needs and the government would prioritise value-for-money projects for implementation.

Asked to comment on a report in a Chinese daily that the government may slash expenditure by up to 15 per cent, he said the government was looking at the needs of each department or agency.

He was speaking to reporters after opening the “Government Services Online: Leading Practice for Change” seminar here yesterday.

Sidek later announced the names of the six government departments and agencies whose portals had won fivestar rating.

The government had said in the 2010 Budget that the operating expenditure will be cut by 13.7 per cent to reduce the fiscal deficit from 7.4 per cent this year to 5.6 per cent next ye a r.

He said departments and agencies in the the information and communication sector will escape the cut as the government wanted to improve the delivery system.

“It does not involve a lot of money. It is about innovation.

It also involves e-government and e-filing. Whatever can be done electronically will be done.” He was also unhappy with the upkeep of government-run portals as most had not been updated over the past two years while some took about ten minutes to download.

“To get five-star rating, they have to update their portals, use proper language with pages opening in two seconds and not 10 minutes.” Of the 1,192 governmentrun portals offering online payment and approvals, only seven were rated five-star.

They were run by the Finance Ministry, Prime Minister’s office, Malaysian Administration Modernisation and management Planning Unit (Mampu), Minerals and Geoscience Department, Housing and Local Government ministry, the Selangor State Secretary and the myGovernment por tal.

Sidek hoped more departments would vie for five-star rating next year to help improve their delivery system.

source HERE