KUCHING: Kuching North City Hall (DBKU) is collaborating with Helpy Delivery Service, a home-grown digital apps company to help hawkers, who have registered for Ramadan bazaar lots at Jalan Semarak and Medan Niaga Satok this year, to sell their food online.
DBKU director, Dr Morshidi Ahmad, said as Ramadan bazaars in the state have been cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic, DBKU was making arrangements to have the company serve as delivery runner.
The new feature, he said, was necessary to help the small traders survive through and beyond the movement control order (MCO) period.
“We have to do what we can to help the food business people through efficient deliveries during the fasting month. We’re now helping the sellers get familiar with the digital platform,” he told reporters while conducting sanitisation work at Hong San Si Temple yesterday.
Helpy Delivery founder, Nur Iswandy Yakop said the plan to set up Digital Ramadan bazaar now was to make the hawkers very aware of the importance of offering hygienic food products that are safe for customers.
He explained that it was important for the sellers to know how to engage with the right people to make delivery arrangements.
“With this initiative, we hope to help strengthen governmental efforts in preventing further spread of Covid-19 while assisting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) affected by the pandemic.
“We also hope that this can promote and transform the community and provide employment opportunities in line with Sarawak’s digital economy plan,” he told New Sarawak Tribune when interviewed on WhatsApp video call yesterday.
“This bazaar is not simply just for the sake of profit. There is a need to impress upon the sellers the importance of having digital permits from DBKU,” he said, adding that the delivery people (mostly motorcyclists) and sellers must be serious about personal protection equipment such as gloves, masks, hats and aprons.
“We don’t just deliver the food; the delivery must be done safely. Because of the pandemic, we will implement digital monitoring daily to ensure kitchen cleanliness. “Riders and vendors also are required to have their temperatures monitored daily to ensure that they are healthy while preparing and delivering food,” he said.
