KUCHING: The government is implementing a pilot project on Stage Bus Service Transformation (SBST) in Kuching, which is one seven cities identified for the programme.
“Under the programme, the government will determine and fix the number and type of buses, bus routes and the frequency of services. The operators will be paid according to distance travelled covering a contracted network in specified areas determined by the government.
“The contract agreement for the SBST programme is being finalised,” said Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communications Dato Sri Michael Manyin (BN-Tebedu) in his winding-up speech yesterday.
On the suggestion for free bus services after the SBST implementation in Kuching, he said it was a good idea but not a pragmatic one.
“We must remember that many people in the rural areas are still crying for the very basic infrastructure facilities such as roads, water and electricity supply.” He said that giving free bus services to those living in Kuching would be insensitive to those living in the rural areas.
“I would like to stress here that no country in this world provides free transportation to its citizens, not even in a communist countries like China,” said Manyin.
He also said there had always been a misconception of the Cabotage Policy that all ships were required to berth at Port Klang first to undergo transshipment procedures before the goods could be sent to Sarawak by feeder vessels.
“In fact, with or without the Cabotage Policy, there is no restriction on the import or export of goods directly from any foreign country by foreign-registered vessels to any port in Sarawak.”
“Foreign vessels can call on any port in Sarawak but they can only call on one destination. They are not allowed to hop from one local port to another in Sarawak. Only vessels with domestic shipping licences can do that. This policy is meant to protect the local shipping industry.”
He said that the Cabotage Policy had not contributed to the high prices of goods in Sarawak. Rather, the high prices are caused by the high cost of transportation due to imbalanced trade whereby foreign ships came with full load but left Sarawak with empty containers.
“When they carry back empty containers they are not making any money. So they will have to charge us more when sending goods to Sarawak,” said Manyin.
The high prices of goods are also due to the lack of economy of scales as Sarawak’s population is very small. The insufficient road connectivity in the state was also one of the contributing factors, so was the shallow draught in local ports where big foreign vessels were forced to berth far out; thus incurring more time and higher cost as feeder vessels were needed to transport the goods to shore.