AREAS such as Tupong and from Matang to Telaga Air are close to the administrative centre of Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) and thus are suitable to be included in the council’s administrative areas.
Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Islamic Affairs and DBKU) Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi pointed out that there was a need to review the demarcation of areas, especially involving areas under DBKU.
He said that before a local authority such as DBKU could redefine its administrative areas, studies had to be conducted to evaluate the impact on the development of the relevant areas towards the goal of forming a sustainable and developed city.
“However, it needs to be an approach and action plan implementation strategy which is more efficient in terms of cost and effectiveness in administration.
“For instance, Tupong is near to the DBKU administrative centre, in addition to a few other areas close by,” he said at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting today in response to a question from Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman (PBB-Tupong) on whether DBKU planned to redefine the boundaries of its administrative areas, especially with regard to Tupong.
He said a matter often raised was the distance between the local authority and the area administered — relating to cost of services and facilitating staff members to serve the people.
Abdul Rahman said that the views of the local folk also had to be taken into consideration when redefining the boundaries of areas.
“In terms of capacity, DBKU is prepared to take on this redefinition of demarcation based on its vast experience in city management,” he said.
He said the ministry had been instructed to conduct a study on demarcation involving the local authorities, and DBKU had thus followed up by holding a few series of meetings with the ministry and the Chief Minister’s Department — with the last discussion held in December last year.
