SIMUNJAN: The community in Gedong can breathe a sigh of relief as they now have access to financial services with the placement of an automatic teller machine (ATM) located at the Anjung Usahawan here.
The facility provided by Agrobank is expected to benefit 20,000 residents in the surrounding area.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan officiated at the opening of the facility yesterday (Oct 16).
Assistant Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais said the availability of the ATM will further boost the economy of the area.
“Most villages in the rural areas now have good road infrastructure connecting to the city, so it is very important for us to have ATMs to facilitate the financial transactions of the residents.
“In fact, I was made to understand by Agrobank that at the beginning they prepared a minimum of RM600,000 in the ATM for a week, and that means it would be RM2.4 million for a period of one month.
Naroden, who is also Gedong assemblyman, said there were more than 4,000 foreign workers in his area, most of whom are Indonesians.
“I was a bit surprised but it is a reality. So, I also requested that they provide another machine that can be used for money transfer and as saving transactions,” he said when met after the launch of the Agrobank ATM.
“So almost every month they will send money to their country. Therefore, with the new machine that provides such facilities, they no longer need to go all the way to Serian.
“Thus, this will boost the economy at Anjung Usahawan Gedong because they will also shop, eat and drink here,” he said.
Agrobank is one of the participating banks in the mobile banking services initiative to Sarawak rural areas. The ATM service at Anjung Usahawan Gedong will operate from 6am to 10pm daily.
During the launch of the ATM machine, there was also a presentation of mock cheques to Sarawak Micro Credit Scheme (SKMS) applicants who have successfully obtained financing assistance under the scheme.
Under Gedong constituency, a total of RM3.8 million has been approved benefiting 100 local entrepreneurs from the B40 group who have been affected by the Covid-19.
Naroden also presented takaful (Islamic insurance) to 152 poor students in Gedong.
