‘New UTC operating hours an inconvenience to Sarawakians’

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Suzanne Lee

KUCHING: The new operating hours for the three Urban Transformation Centres (UTCs) in Sarawak still do not meet the expectations of Sarawakians.

In asserting this yesterday, political secretary to the chief minister Suzanne Lee regretted that the Ministry of Finance (MoF) kept on introducing new operating hours for UTCs in the state, without fulfilling the purpose of having these centres.

She pointed out that the purpose of running UTCs “is for the convenience of the people”, hence these centres should operate way beyond office hours.

“When the previous federal government set up UTC, it is for the people to deal with businesses involving various government agencies off working hours.

“This is so that the people do not have to apply for leave. But now, the operating hours keep on changing, from what used to be until 9pm, then changed to 5pm and now to 7pm,” she said in a statement here.

Lee observed that quite a number of employees punched out at 6pm and some of them would be caught up in traffic congestion after work.

She thus wondered how much time they had left to get from their respective workplaces to those centres. She believed that the general public would have ample time to get their affairs done if these UTCs in Sarawak operated until 9pm.

“UTCs are like a one-stop centre for people to handle businesses with various government agencies. Some people make use of their one-hour lunch break to get things done.

“UTCs used to operate from 8am to 9pm, which is definitely what the people prefer because most of us are leading a hectic life,” she said.

On Wednesday, the MoF issued a statement to announce the latest operating hours for UTCs in Sarawak and Sabah, effective March 4.

There are three UTCs namely UTC Kuching, UTC Sibu and UTC Miri in Sarawak.

From March 4, they open from 10am to 7pm Monday to Friday (Friday prayer’s break is from 11.45am to 2.15pm), and from 8am to 5pm on weekends. They are closed on public holidays.

According to MoF, the new operating hours are expected to save expenditure up to RM2.1 million.