‘Police, JPJ should take action against unlicensed trucks’

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KUCHING: The state police and the Road Transport Department (JPJ) should confiscate ‘lori hantu’ or unlicensed logging trucks which ply the Tubau-Bakun Road.

Home Affairs Deputy Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said he had highlighted the issue many times in the past when he was still the state’s chairman of the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB).

“I know that the lori hantu issue has been plaguing our roads for a long time but it is not easy to deal with them because they are very elusive.

“Now as a Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, I hope the police can catch and confiscate them. Their owners too should be compounded heavily for destroying public roads as well as posing danger to other road users,” Wan Junaidi told The Borneo Post here yesterday.

He was commenting to The Borneo Post front-page story yesterday on the menace of the ‘lori hantu’ which was highlighted by Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Belaga branch.

Minister of Works Datuk Fadillah Yusof when contacted advised the owners of these ‘lori hantu’ to be more responsible.

“The government has spent millions to build the road before and now it also spent millions of ringgit on resurfacing which is now almost completed. The least these lorry owners should do is to abide by the rules and road safety.

“I also hope that the police and JPJ will monitor the stretch of road as it is very dangerous to other road users,” said the Petra Jaya MP.

Meanwhile, Senior Minister and PRS president Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing pointed out that there was a logging road which runs parallel with the existing Tubau-Bakun Road which the logging operators use.

“However, it’s not all weathered-road so the timber company prefer to use the Tubau-Bakun Rod for economic reasons with impunity.

“It seems that along the Tubau-Bakun Road ‘the rule of law’ doesn’t apply but ‘the rule of money’ does.

“I have brought this issue many times in the past including solutions but no actions have been taken against them. I hope the relevant authorities and ministries take their job more seriously otherwise more money will be wasted for repairs and more lives will be lost,” said the senior minister.