Online system for waste management, public cleansing to cut approval time to 24 hours

PETALING JAYA: An online system that cuts the licence approval time from seven days to 24 hours has been introduced by the Local Government Development Ministry.

The i-Lesen system is expected to benefit some 9,000 licence holders in their application and approval for six categories of solid waste management and public cleansing licences.

They are the commercial, industrial and institutional collection licence; household waste collection licence; public cleansing licence; construction waste collection licence; long haulage licence; and disposal facility operations licence.

Local Government Development Ministry secretary-general Datuk M. Noor Azman Taib (pic) said the contactless transaction done through i-Lesen will reduce the time and energy required for licence holders to be physically present at the ministry.

"Through the i-Lesen system, the time taken by the National Solid Waste Management Department (JPSPN) to approve the licence application is 24 hours after payment is

made, compared to the previous approval period of seven days when application is done manually.

"Through this system, the licence fee payment period can be made immediately, at any time and wherever the applicant is, compared to the previous method whereby payment was done manually over the JPSPN counter," said M. Noor Azman at the launch of the national solid waste management and public cleansing digitalisation initiative at the ministry here on Thursday (Nov 9).

Through i-Lesen, the payment is made through the Financial Process Exchange (FPX) with any of the 33 banking institutions that are in collaboration with Affin Islamic Bank Bhd.

JPSPN director-general Dr Mohd Azhar Abd Hamid said the i-Lesen system, which can be accessed via the ministry's website, was developed in-house in a joint venture between the JPSPN and the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp).

He noted that the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act 2007 was enforced on Sept 1, 2011, in seven states – Negri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor, Pahang, Perlis, Kedah, and the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

Through its enforcement, jurisdiction in relation to solid waste management and public cleansing including the granting of service licences falls under the authority of the Federal Government.

"The granting of these licences is to ensure that solid waste management and public cleansing services are performed by qualified parties and meet the set standards," said Mohd Azhar.

He added that 11,243 licences have been issued by the JPSPN from 2011 to 2023.

"Previously, the licence process was done manually.

"However, after taking into account the evolution of technology as well as the benefits to various parties, especially industry players, JPSPN has taken a step forward by switching to a fully digital licence management," he said.