I

n a bid to get closer to Jakarta residents, the city administration intends to launch later this year an Android application to which Jakarta residents can send their complaints.

Inspired by an existing Android application, Safetipin, the new application has been designed to be the channel for residents to send complaints regarding security issues and public facilities.

Launched in 2013 and popular among women in India, Safetipin is a map-based mobile app that collects safety-related information from ordinary users and trained auditors and posts it for the benefit of others. Users can assign a score to the places they have visited on various parameters.

The app relies on citizens and their contributions to make cities safer. The app is available on both Google Play and Apple'€™s App Store, and has clocked 18,000 downloads globally.

Jakarta Communications and Information Technology Agency head Agus Bambang Setyowidodo said that the application was currently being built and would be ready to launch in the near future.

'€œWe are building it. It will be ready some time in December,'€ he said on Monday, pointing out that the city was working with Google Maps in building the app.

The city set aside Rp 2 billion (US$171,269.5) in the revised budget to fund the project.

The future city app, which has not yet been named, will provide a channel to accommodate residents'€™ reports. Reports will carry different colors that indicate degrees of security in the respective areas.

For example, red will indicate a less secure area while green means that a neighborhood is safe.

Citizens'€™ reports will be stored on the city database server, '€œso the information will belong to us'€, Agus cited, adding that in that way, the city could manage and use the information to improve public services.

He also encouraged residents to report other urban issues, including uncollected garbage, street vendors occupying public facilities or potholes.

'€œWe have not yet decided the name of the application. We are discussing it,'€ he said, citing that the project was initiated in March.

Despite the upcoming launch of the app, Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama will not discontinue the hotline service he introduced to accommodate citizens'€™ complaints.

Ahok has made his personal phone numbers, 0811944728, 081927666999 and 085811291966, public since day one and encourages Jakarta residents to send their complaints to them. The complaints are managed by his staff on workdays and are sent to relevant agencies for follow up. On weekends, Ahok reads and responds to messages himself.

Ahok'€™s personal assistant, Sakti Budiono, said Ahok would still accept complaints on his personal numbers.

'€œWe can'€™t just stop people from sending their messages to the phone numbers that have already been made widely known. However, we expect the number of direct complaints to the deputy governor to significantly decrease with the launch of the Android app,'€ he said.