SIBU: Sibu Lorry Association (SLA) has called on Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) to consider abolishing the RM10 monthly lorry parking fee or develop a lorry parking lot at or near Jalan Igan, here.
Its secretary, Kong Hian Kim, said they currently bear the costs of maintenance fees and management costs including safety costs, domestic water bills, and electricity bills.
According to Kong, SLA is currently on a strict budget which makes it difficult to pay the fees.
“We have spent RM 200, 000 to upgrade the facilities here but we could only cover 25 percent of the total area,” he said last Tuesday during a press conference which was also attended by SLA chairman Ling Kee Chuong.
He explained that the land was allocated by the council to SLA as a lorry parking area after the lorry parking area at Jalan Tapang, Sungai Merah was already full.
“RM4 mln is needed to fully develop this parking lot and we cannot raise that amount,” he said.
“We made loans with the committee members, but we are only able to develop 25 percent of the land.
“Currently, the parking lot is only able to accommodate up to 50 trucks at any given time.”
Kong said the daily parking fees for SLA members is RM1 and RM3 for non-members.
“We collect about RM1,000 a month but our maintenance fees and management cost are higher than that,” he said.
Therefore, he hoped to see the parking lot developed and managed by the council.
Kong also disclosed that the council had made an offer to renegotiate new rental fees for the next three years to which SLA had politely declined.
