Ajman services take hit from residents

Ajman // Fewer people were happy with the services provided by Ajman Municipality in the past year than in the previous year, a survey has revealed. The poll showed that residents' overall satisfaction with services including emergency responses, tenancy contract services and government call centres fell to 72 per cent in 2009 from 85 per cent the previous year. The survey took the form of a questionnaire distributed to people who visited the offices of the municipality and its various departments.

The survey was conducted by the municipality's opinion centre and asked people to gauge their level of satisfaction with the services they had received. Summaya al Suwaidi, head of the opinion centre, said the municipality would attempt to address any deficiencies highlighted in the survey. She described public feedback as "a new experience". The opinion centre was formed "just two years ago and all the departments are taking the public's criticism on their services seriously", she said yesterday at a press conference.

She said a team of analysts had been assembled to examine the results of the study and make recommendations to the municipality on how it could improve its services. The opinion centre was yesterday unable to provide a more detailed breakdown of the survey results and could not say how many people had responded to the questionnaire. Marwan Hamza, 30, an Emirati, said he was happy to see that his local authority was taking an interest in people's views.

"In some Arab places this does not happen," Mr Hamza said. "I believe this would be a starting point to increase more people participating in decision-making in this country." The Northern Emirates have recently been focusing on improving customer service. Last week, Ajman Municipality announced that more than 600 of its staff would have to take English classes this year so they could better serve people. Also this month, Sharjah said it would provide etiquette and language training to its employees.