Principle Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar said today that three new centres offering government services in the heart of the community which form part of the new servizz.gov service are aimed at saving the time and energy of citizens.

“Citizens won’t have to go from one place to another to get served by a government department since the new service is aimed at being closer to the community,” he said.

He was speaking during the launch of servizz.gov at the Paola local council.

Three new centres offering government services to the community have opened in Paola, Birkirkara and Qawra as part of the servizz.com initiative. An additional three or four centres are expected to open in 2016.

Citizens using the servizz.com service will be given a case number so that they can follow their case and see what stage it has reached. They can also file a complaint if they feel aggrieved by the decision. One can either opt to visit one of the centres or call freephone 153.

Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon, who is responsible for the Simplification of Administrative Processes, said that “this service is the start of a drive we would like spread throughout the civil service”.

He said that the government had already made courageous steps to simplify matters and reduce bureaucracy, even when it came to enacting new laws. He referred to the fact that the new Tribunal law stipulates that timeframes of cases heard before the Appeals’ Tribunal to do with planning would be reduced drastically and decisions taken in the shortest time possible.

He thanked the all the civil service for being part of this new move.

Asked by this newsroom whether this move was aimed at increasing working hours of government workers during the summer, since the service is offered during the summer as well between Monday and Saturday, Mr Cutajar replied in the negative.

“I’ve been asked the same question umpteenth times, I have already publically said that this won’t be the case,” Mr Cutajar said.