Revamp of agencies for ‘centralisation, tight coordination’

HANOI — The recent reorganisation of various agencies to push forward the Smart Nation drive was to bring about the right degree of centralisation and tighter coordination, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday (March 24).

While the Republic is digitalised, there are things that other cities have done, and moved faster than Singapore, he added.

This includes a digital identity system, smart payments and the use of information technology for transport systems.

“Within the Government itself, how we develop the systems which the Government uses … in order to service the public better, I think there’s a lot of room for us to strengthen and grow,” said Mr Lee, who was speaking at the Singapore media at the end of his four-day official visit to Vietnam.

Singapore has built up some of its capabilities, such as the Smart Nation Programme Office (SNPO), the Digital Government Directorate of the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the implementing agency Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech).

“We have to make the right judgment, what pieces to bring together and what pieces to have everywhere, because every agency is involved, every ministry is involved.

“And yet, you must have the right degree of centralisation to be able to make things happen and to be able to coordinate tightly,” Mr Lee said.

From May 1, the SNPO, the Digital Government Directorate of the MOF, and the Government Technology Policy department in the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) will fall under the new Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO).

The 1,800-strong GovTech, currently under MCI, will also be placed under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), and be the implementing agency of the SNDGO. GovTech will drive the Government’s IT systems and digital services.

Both GovTech and SNDGO will collectively form the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group under the PMO.

Mr Lee said the agencies were brought under the PMO as the Government felt that there was a need to bring them “more tightly together”.

The Group will be overseen by a ministerial committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean. Minister for Communications and Information Dr Yaacob Ibrahim will be the deputy chairman.

Mr Lee said with the two ministers in charge, “we will be able to do it more efficiently and to greater results”.