KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg will come up with a formula to help the poor in Sarawak in terms of public transportation.
“I am still finding the formula. I will announce it later. We have to study it first,” he said when officiating at Integrity Day 2020 of the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) at Riverside Majestic Hotel here yesterday.
To make clear his point, he gave an example of an elderly person in Miri who had to pay over RM60 per day on buses.
He also said he had asked Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin to try the public bus system.
“Lee went to the ground and tried the bus system in Miri. He had to wait more than an hour, almost two hours to get on a bus,” he said.
Abang Johari pointed out that developments in public transportation in the state, including hydrogen buses and Autonomous Rail Transit (ART), would benefit the people.
“This is so that our public transportation is systematic and uses fuel which is environmentally friendly,” he said.
Such developments, he stressed, were important to resolve traffic jams and weaknesses in the current public transportation system.
“Yesterday (Monday), I was on the road from Sri Aman to Kuching. On the way, I saw the long queue of vehicles from Samarahan to Kuching,” he said.
The chief minister said SEDC, working with the Transport Ministry, had been entrusted to look into the public transport system.
Also present at the event were Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office (Integrity and Ombudsman) Datuk Talib Zulpilip, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Transport Assistant Minister Datuk Dr Jerip Susil, International Trade and Industry Assistant Minister Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais, Industrial Terminal and Entrepreneur Development Assistant Minister Datuk Malcolm Mussen Lamoh, and SEDC chairman Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abdul Aziz Husain.
