Lee (front, fifth right) with local Sarawak Gas officials and some Tudan residents during the site visit.
MIRI: Residents in housing areas here who have yet to enjoy piped gas supply are advised to submit their application to Sarawak Gas.
According to Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Lee Kim Shin, these applications will be processed once a sufficient number is received from the applicants.
“The house owners must fill up the forms and submit their application first. Sarawak Gas will only start implementation for the area when there are sufficient applications. Otherwise, it would be uneconomical for the company,” he said.
Lee, who is Senadin assemblyman, said those living in housing areas such as Vista Perdana and Desa Senadin could start submitting their applications so that the applications would be processed.
“In some areas, there are not many people interested in having the facility as most of the houses are rented out. So the residents prefer the portable cylinder gas,” he said.
Lee added that in certain areas, though the houses are fully occupied, the house owners have not submitted any application for piped gas supply and due to this, the facility has not been implemented there.
He told reporters this during a visit to Tudan Phase 6 to see the piped gas project in the area. Also present was Sarawak Gas site manager Richard Liew and Lee’s special assistant Eric Chin.
Meanwhile, the visit yesterday saw the implementation of piped gas supply to about 700 houses in Tudan Desaras.
“There are more than 1,000 houses in the whole of Tudan Desaras. For this phase, about 700 households will benefit from the project. Next year another 500 houses, and eventually the whole of Tudan will be covered,” Lee told reporters.
He also explained that house owners would only have to pay an upfront payment of RM380 to get the supply and once it is in place, they will pay an instalment of RM30 a month for five years. The instalment will be billed together with the consumer’s monthly bill.
Lee said that piped gas is very much cheaper compared with cylinder gas. The monthly bill for most families is less than RM10 – in total, consumers pay about RM40 monthly for their gas bill plus the instalment fee, for the first five years.
“However, the gas piping and connection inside the consumers’ house all the way to their stove is to be arranged personally by the consumers themselves. Sarawak Gas will only prepare the gas pipe up to a consumer’s meter point,” he explained.