MyKiosk Project Not A 'White Elephant’, Helps Raise Income Of Over 7,000 Hawker Families

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 11 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) has described allegations that the MyKiosk project is a 'white elephant’ as inaccurate, noting it has helped increase the income of over 7,000 hawker families nationwide.

It added that a check with all local authorities (PBTs) found that, as of July 2025, the occupancy rate for MyKiosk 1.0 reached 91.75 per cent, while that for MyKiosk 2.0 was at 86.78 per cent.

"This initiative has also helped raise the income of more than 7,000 hawker families nationwide, with records showing that some earned up to RM30,000 per month,” it said in a statement today.

On the improvement measures recommended by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for the MyKiosk initiative, the ministry said it welcomed the report and the recommendations to enhance governance, particularly in terms of studies on requirements and monitoring to ensure the project's long-term effectiveness.

The MACC yesterday submitted five proposals to enhance the governance of the KPKT: conducting a comprehensive needs assessment, including feasibility and economic impact studies; integrating the success of the MyKiosk MADANI project into Key Performance Indicators (KPIs); and establishing a dedicated monitoring unit or special committee to track the project’s effectiveness and outcomes.

Two further points focused on enhancing the MyKiosk MADANI Initiative Guidelines, covering procurement, management and monitoring; and developing comprehensive Implementation Guidelines for development projects under federal allocations to serve as an operational reference.

The KPKT, meanwhile, explained that although the policies and allocations are channelled at the Federal level, the PBTs serve as the main implementation agencies that are fully responsible for determining strategic locations, appointing eligible traders and maintaining the MyKiosk facilities.

"The MACC report has identified weaknesses at this level, particularly the absence of standard monitoring mechanisms that can affect the project's impact evaluation.

"As such, the KPKT has made it compulsory for PBTs to implement comprehensive studies before installing the kiosks to ensure the location has high market demand, thus ensuring business continuity through the new guidelines issued by the Local Government Department (JKT),” it added.

The KPKT also said that the performances of the PBTs will be assessed via the "traffic light” system, whereby PBTs that fail to achieve the key performance index (KPI) for occupancy and operations (red status) will face action to cancel allocation, while PBTs that excel (green status) will receive additional incentives.

In addition, the PBTs are recommended to move kiosks that receive poor response to locations that attract more people to optimise asset utilisation.

"In a proactive move to address the issue of location suitability, the KPKT has also expanded this initiative to institutions of higher learning (IPTs) through the Mykiosk@Kampus initiative to support the agenda of graduate or youth entrepreneurship at campuses,” it added.

-- BERNAMA