SIBU: The Sarawak Licensed Small Ships Regulation is being formulated to compel all passenger-carrying longboats and speedboats to be registered and to implement safety measures.
Sarawak Rivers Board (SRB) controller William Jinep said if approved, SRB could regulate the operators, whom it presently had no control over, in view of the number of accidents involving unregistered boats such as longboats.
“The draft is still at the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Transportation, which they are studying. Once it is agreed, it will be sent to the State Attorney General before submission for the government’s approval. If it is approved this year, it will be implemented in 2017,” he told reporters during a Gawai Dayak operation yesterday.
He disclosed that the regulation would also cover boats operating in lakes in Batang Ai, Murum, Bakun and, in future, Baleh.
“Those longboats and speedboats used in villages and longhouses with fare-paying passengers, these will be required to be registered if the new regulation is approved in future,” he said adding those registering would be screened.
“At the moment, we can only advise them and that is why a regulation is needed to get them to be registered with us to compel them to make available safety equipment on board to safeguard their passengers.”
Meanwhile, the Gawai Dayak operation involved checks on express boats at the Sibu Express Boat terminal.
William said SRB managed to prevent accidents involving registered boats, with no mishap since 2013, which he attributed to stringent measures such as the ‘No Ticket, No Entry’ and ‘One Person, One Life Jacket’ policies.
He assured passengers that there would be an adequate number of boats for the celebration.
The first phase of the Gawai Dayak operation started on May 22 and will end on Tuesday (May 31), while the second phase will be from June 3-7.