“Efficiency & Effectiveness” JKR Day 2001

At this year’s JKR Day, its Director, Datu Ir. Robert Voon explained thus. “The 9th of August 1999 was a ‘red-letter’ day when JKR submitted its MS ISO 9000 documentation and began its implementation for two of its core processes: Road Project Management and Water Supply Production. The department has chosen that day to be our annual Hari JKR. It is a day set aside each year to recognise and celebrate our identity and milestones of our achievements as a government organisation as well as to build up a strong and healthy organisational self-esteem.”

OATH OF HONOUR...led by Datu Ir. Robert Voon. JKR is committed towards effeciency and effectiveness in the Millennium.

During that conference, the delegates immersed themselves in the study, understanding and generating of ideas and strategies for transforming JKR based on the Five Pillars for the Cultural Transformation of the State Civil Service as propounded by Datuk State Secretary. The outcome of that Conference is the 20 Resolutions which was presented to Datuk Aziz at the JKR Day.

Datu Ir. Voon went on to outline the achievement and future prospects for JKR. He firmly believed that JKR is now on a solid footing which has been built up over the years by all concerned and to take up the challenges of meeting the expectations of the government.

“As modern managers of infrastructure development, JKR is expected to be properly locked in symbiosis with other relevant agencies in the processes of planning, organising, directing and checking of infrastructure development projects. JKR will be required to develop competencies to foresee, forecast and input ideas as how best to implement projects within the overall framework of technical feasibility, cost-effectiveness, contractual and legal requirements.”

On the ICT front, Datu Ir. Voon expected JKR to operate full speed ahead where all the necessary and relevant information will be at its command to facilitate decision-making by its planners. “A comprehensive range of databases will be available for use in accurately forecasting the cost of development projects which will in turn allow for a more accurate budgeting of financial resources as well as the use of data for purposes of negotiations,” added Datu Ir. Voon.

Having outlined JKR’s key expectations, Datu Ir. Voon reminded that JKR is well on its way even to exceed those expectations. How is this to be done?

“JKR has adopted a three-prong approach in setting its goal for this year. The restructuring of JKR is the first one where the focus of the organisation will be the planning, design, budgeting, monitoring and supervision of infrastructure projects. Instead of only being involved with projects of standard design, JKR will also take on projects that are more complex and challenging in design and which require an in-house multi-talented and multi-disciplinary approach.”

“To date we are on target with two of the nine Task Force teams having completed its assignment with the setting up of the Rapid Deployment Unit (RAPIDU) and the putting in place of Estate Management Unit (EMU).”

The second-prong approach, according to Datu Ir. Voon, would be the MS ISO 9000 certification of its core work processes. As stated in JKR’s Code 3: Best Standard of Quality from its Code of Undertaking, “…our target is for all our work processes to be ISO 9000 certified at every Branch and Division of JKR.”

And finally, its third-prong approach is the continued outworking of the Departmental Strategic Plan which involves promoting teamwork and strategic partnerships and maximising the use of ICT.

Meanwhile, the State Secretary, Datuk Haji Abdul Aziz Husain, in his speech, amongst others, lauded JKR with its vision, expertise and capability to undergo and manage the necessary internal and external changes as part of the transformation process. “It is the expectation of the Government that this transformation in JKR will build up its ability to translate the most exacting standards of engineering practice into a high quality infrastructure network for Sarawak.”

Datuk Aziz also renewed the challenge to other departments in Sarawak as regards having the initiative “…to work through the Five Pillars for the Cultural Transformation of the Civil Service.”

JKR at its recent Senior Officers Conference drew up an action plan for its implementation that is relevant in the context of JKR Sarawak. Datuk Aziz said that “…this is setting the pace for the other agencies in the Sarawak Civil Service. This is what the Government would like to see more and more among its departments and agencies. The Government would like to see that there is this positive and constructive sense of striving together, of seeking to benchmark each other’s services and processes, of adapting successfully to the changing environment resulting in quality being built into the heart and soul of every agency in the Civil Service.”

Also present at the function is Tuan Haji Salleh Sulaiman, the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Communications Sarawak.