Voice your opinions with 'JKR-ku' mobile app

Bandar Seri Begawan - As part of efforts to better serve the country and take swift actions on complaints made by members of the public, a soon-to-be launched mobile application called 'JKR-ku' will allow the community to upload pictures and locations of problematic areas under the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department such as roads, water supply and drainage, among others.

The new application, which can be used on both the Android and Apple phones, was revealed by Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi bin Haji Osman, Minister of Development yesterday in an interview during the launch of the Road Inspection Division Enforcement or in short 'RIDE'.

"We will soon be launching the 'JKR-ku' application. Should members of the public come across problematic areas such as roads that require repair, they can send us a picture and its location. This will allow us to take immediate action to resolve the predicament," the minister said.

The Road Inspection Division Enforcement (RIDE), launched by the Public Works Department with support from the Ministry of Development, is a proactive solution to conduct daily road inspections and enforcement to ensure the safety of roadusers especially on highways and major roads in the Brunei-Muara District. A dedicated team with two vehicles will conduct such inspections and enforcement.

The RIDE team along with the customer care centre '140' at the Ministry of Development will strive to further improve and upgrade existing road facilities to enhance the safety, comfort and convenience of roadusers. They are well-equipped with the latest IT equipments and basic software applications to tackle any issues or incidents, which will later be relayed to the Road Management Centre for immediate action.

RIDE will also monitor and ensure that appropriate traffic safety management is in place if temporary road works and service installations are being conducted. The team will coordinate and collaborate with other stakeholders responsible for such road works to avoid incidences, disruptions and inconvenience to roadusers.

The Minister of Development said, "If road maintenance works such as the repairing of potholes are being conducted, the RIDE team will take swift action and inform the Road Maintenance Section for immediate action instead of the usual two to three day process."

On the enforcement side, the minister also warned contractors and companies to exert proper road care when carrying out works on construction sites or the roads. Should they fail to comply, the projects will come to a temporary halt until they can repair the road. This is vital to ensure the safety of roadusers.

"The companies who fail to comply with the safety regulation will have a bad record. This will be looked at when we award a project because the health, safety and environment (HSE) is very important to us. We also hope to increase the RIDE vehicles and personnel to tend to other districts in the future."

--Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin