KUCHING: The Ministry of Transport has agreed to repair the damage to the pier at the Sarawak River Board Passenger Terminal (LSS) to ensure the safety of ferry users, passengers and river taxi operators.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Lee Kim Shin said the work to repair the jetty would start as soon as the tender process is completed.
“We hope that these works can be started by the end of this year at the latest,” he said at a press conference after the handing over of Sarawakku Sayang Special Assistance (BKSS) 8.0 on a one-off basis to 12 river taxi operators registered with LSS at the LSS Passenger Terminal here yesterday.
The twelve recipients are among the 199 river boat operators registered with LSS across the state.
The assistance involving a total expenditure of RM99,500 is to ease the financial burden of river boat operators who suffered loss of income following a drastic decrease in the number of customers, including tourists during the Movement Control Order (MCO) and Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO).
According to him, during the MCO and CMCO, this group experienced loss of income due to a drastic decrease in the number of customers.
“Up till July 31, LSS recorded 77,018 members of the public using river transport as a mode of transport provided by river operators in Bintulu.
Therefore, the provision of one-off financial assistance of RM500 to each miner by the Sarawak government will benefit and ease the financial burden of 199 river operators registered with LSS, he added.
In the meantime, Lee said his ministry and LSS would continue to closely monitor the situation and development of water transport services in the state throughout the period of the Phase Four National Recovery Plan.
As such, he called on all relevant parties, especially operators and users of river transport, to give full support and cooperation to the government to curb the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic for the benefit of all the people of this state.
