KUCHING: The delay in disbursement of funds under the Interim Stage Bus Support Fund (ISBSF) by the federal government has adversely affected the operations of bus services in the state.
To date, three companies have ceased operations while the rest are struggling to stay afloat.
According to the Sarawak Bus Companies Association (SBCA), as at Monday, no funds under the ISBSF for 2019 had been received from the federal government.
The association told Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin during a courtesy call recently that SBCA also faced the same problem last year.
“We only received last year’s funds sometime in June this year.”
During the meeting, SBCA also took the opportunity to raise issues faced by bus companies.
Briefly, the objective of ISBSF is to provide funds to support the operations of stage bus companies.
SBCA also told the minister that it was not included in the signing of a new agreement between the federal government and Bus Companies Association.
Instead, the federal government had already signed a new agreement with bus companies in Malaya.
Following the omission, SBCA said it had together with Sabah Omnibus Operators Association (SOOA) written a joint letter to seek the assistance of the Federal Transport Minister to resolve the problem, dated July 12, but to no avail.
Lee said the state government viewed the problem seriously as it had negative implications.
He said his ministry would write officially to seek clarification from the Federal Transport Ministry.
Lee said he would also make arrangements to meet and discuss with the Federal Transport Minister to resolve this problem.
