Public housing residents in the 12 town councils run by the PAP can now use their smartphones to report defects and maintenance issues, thanks to the launch of a new app.

Dubbed iTown@SG, the app was launched on Monday with an investment of $100,000 over the past six months by PAP Town Councils.

"The key thinking is to provide an additional communication tool for residents with smartphones," said Dr Teo Ho Pin, coordinating chairman of the PAP Town Councils.

For instance, residents can take a picture of a broken railing or dirty common corridor and submit the pictures via the app.

A feature allows the exact location of the fault to be captured even without residents entering any address information. This is because Singapore Land Authority's mapping data has been built in to the app to work with a smartphone's Global Positioning System (GPS) function to pinpoint one's exact location.

The app has also been integrated with the PAP Town Councils' existing estate management system - Integrated Estates Management System (IEMS) - so that fault reports are captured automatically.

Service contractors will be alerted by IEMS for problem resolution. Based on standard, current protocols, lift breakdown, for instance, must be attended to in 25 mins, whereas unswept or dirty corridors, within a day.

Once the fault is resolved, the IMES will be updated. Residents will also know that the problem they reported is resolved through the app. The app can be used on both the Apple iOS and Android platforms.