KUCHING: Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen will meet with Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng early next week to discuss the optimal operating hours of Urban Transformation Centres (UTC) in Sarawak.
Chong, who is also Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Deputy Minister, said feedback from the general public was still being gathered on the new operating hours of the UTC.
“Many have called up to propose that the UTC in Sarawak start their operating hours at around noon time till 9 pm so as to cater to those who wish to do their official business after office hours without having to take one day or half-day leave from work,” he said in a statement here
yesterday.
In the recent announcement, the Finance Ministry has changed the operating hours of UTC in Sarawak from 8 am to 5 pm from Monday to Sunday commencing on Jan 22, 2019.
While there was no complaint about the said operating hours on weekends, he said many had expressed disappointment with the closure of the UTC after office hours on weekdays.
Previously, the operating hours of the UTC throughout the country were from 8am to 10pm (14 hours) seven days a week and the new proposal reduced the operating hours to nine hours daily, with varying operating hours at different locations.
Chong said such extra long operating hours had added to the financial strain on the government’s operating expenditure and has proven not to be an efficient and optimal use of government resources.
“We understand that there is an urgent need to reduce the operating expenditure of the government, especially given that we have inherited a RM1 trillion debt from the previous government.
“’And that there is an additional RM35 billion tax refund owed by the previous government that the new government has agreed to pay back to taxpayers this year,” he said.
As such, he said with these financial constraints, the government had to optimise the limited resources by adjusting the time of operation to suit the different needs of the locals. – Bernama
