Sibu Municipal Council awarded 4-star rating

by Danny Wong, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on August 1, 2012, Wednesday

SIBU: The Sibu Municipal Council has been adjudged a 4-Star Local Authority rating by the federal Ministry of Housing and Local Government.

Its chairman Datuk Tiong Thai King said the council was one of two local authorities in the state which attained the 4-Star status. The other was Kuching City North Commission.

“The star rating is awarded based on a set of criteria, which include management, core business, customer management, community participation and public perception,” he said when addressing a full council meeting here yesterday.

He said it was not easy to attain a 4-Star rating taking into account that there wasn’t any 5-Star local council in the country yet.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the local people for their cooperation in making this award possible. With this, we pledge to continue to improve and upgrade our services,” he added.

On another subject, he said the council had decided to move the Market Road/High Street night market to the Butterfly Garden not far away on Aug 6.

He said this would relieve traffic congestion along Market Road and High Street at night due to illegal parking of motor vehicles by the public and hawkers.

He said that the relocation (exercise) would open up the car parking space between Market Road and High Street to the shoppers, and improve the environment at the former butterfly garden, which used to be quiet and dark at night.

He said a dialogue with all the night hawkers would be held before Aug 6 where rules and regulation for the new night market would be made known to the hawkers.

Lots would be cast to determine the locations of the respective stalls, he said.

Touching on unauthorised structures and illegal extension, Tiong said that despite reminders and warnings, there were still many cases of unauthorised structures and illegal extensions in the council’s jurisdiction.

“We have received many complaints and have subsequently issued Stop Work notices and also Demolition Orders to owners of these authorised structures.

“The council has planned for two physical demolitions this month which involve an illegal car washing shed and an external staircase.

“Besides, the council has also filed a number of court proceedings against owners of unauthorised structure and illegal extensions,” he said.

Tiong said the council would not entertain any claim or appeal that they (the owners) had been wrongly advised by their consultants, developers, contractors or ‘agents’.

The public should consult the Council’s Building Control Section at level 21, Wisma Sanyan, if they had doubt, he said.

“Most importantly, approval must be obtained before one starts renovating,” he added.

On another note, Tiong said the council had set up garbage bin centres at many commercial areas here for the convenience of business operators.

He reminded all tenants of shop houses to pack their garbage properly and bring them to the bin centre.

“The council has a fixed schedule to empty the garbage bins,” Tiong said.

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