SIBU: The number of property owners registering for assessment rate e-billing is less than 20 per cent, which is well below the target of Sibu Municipal Council (SMC).
Chairman Clarence Ting Ing Horh, during the council’s monthly meeting here on Wednesday (May 25), said SMC needed to achieve the target of at least 70 per cent by the end of this year.
“That is between 800 and 900 registrations per month. At the end of last year, we only had 5,000 registrations. This is not enough. We need at least 20,000 registrations a month to reach 70 per cent by the end of this year.”
According to Ting, e-billing registration could be done at the SMC counter at the Urban Transformation Centre (UTC) here, and the property owner or any family member must have an email account to receive the bills.
Ting also appealed to the public to take the matter seriously as SMC would not send the physical bill starting next year.
“Starting next year, we will be like banks, we will stop sending physical statements. Those (property owners) who want us to print it, they have to pay.”
According to him, SMC was implementing the e-billing concept next year as the number of property owners had reached 53,000 people.
“This (e-billing) is important because we have about 53,000 property owners now. Previously, there were about 30,000, our staff took two weeks to physically distribute these bills (from house to house/building).
“But now as property owners increase, we have to spend a month to distribute the bills. So the only way to be fast as well as save time and cost is through online.”
After the meeting, Ting received a courtesy call from Sibu OCPD ACP Zulkipli Suhaili and his delegation.
Also present were SMC deputy chairman Bujang Zainuddin Abdul Majid and SMC acting secretary Yong Ing Chu.
