Zuraida Kamaruddin
PUTRAJAYA: The Housing and Local Government Ministry will draw up guidelines for the overseas working visit of local authorities beginning next year to ensure there is no waste of time or money.
Its minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said the guidelines would, among others, contain information on countries that the authorities could visit in line with their respective standards or needs.
“The ministry is responsible for disbursing financial allocations to local authorities, so that’s why we are preparing guidelines on how the money should be spent,” she told a press conference after closing the Empowerment of Local Authorities Convention here yesterday.
Zuraida said with the new guidelines, the practice of approving visits would no longer be based on just “proposals” and the ministry’s financial situation but instead would place greater emphasis on the country selected as well on the impact and requirements the visit would have on the local authorities.
According to her, the ministry is collaborating with the director-general of Local Government Departments Datuk Noor-Ihsan Che Mat to draft the guidelines, which would be adopted as early as next year.
Meanwhile, 2,300 participants, including mayors, council presidents, secretary and council members of local authorities nationwide, attended the inaugural convention, which began yesterday.
Zuraidi said the convention was also a platform to streamline the synergy between political appointees in local authorities and civil servants.
Apart from Penang and Selangor, the synergy between civil servants and political appointees from other states under Pakatan Harapan needed to be further enhanced to facilitate smoother dealings at the local authority level, she said.
“The immediate compatibility between the two parties is necessary to ensure the new government’s development agenda can be efficiently implemented,” she said. — Bernama