Datuk Lee Kim Shin
MIRI: Sarawak government is working closely with the federal government and all stakeholders to ensure uninterrupted delivery by air of face masks, sanitisers and other essential items that are required to stop the spread of Covid-19.
In a press statement today, Minister of Transport Datuk Lee Kim Shin said he is working closely with his counterpart in Putrajaya Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong and his deputy Hasbi Habibollah to ensure that there is uninterrupted cargo services to Sarawak from Kuala Lumpur by cargo airline companies.
Lee said his ministry is also working closely with MAS Cargo and POS Asia Cargo Express to ensure cargo flights from Kuala Lumpur to Sarawak are not held up.
Under the current schedule, MAS Cargo continues to operate one daily flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching except for Monday and Sunday while Pos Asia Cargo Express mounts one cargo flight daily for Kuala Lumpur/Kuching and Kuala Lumpur/Miri sectors respectively except for Sunday.
The airline companies had informed the ministry that cargoes are also being transported from Kuala Lumpur to Sibu, Kuala Lumpur to Miri, and Kuala Lumpur to Kuching using passenger aircraft with cargoes weight limit of up to two tonnes per flight.
“I would like to stress that my ministry officers and I will continue to monitor the situation and work closely with the airlines companies to make certain that cargo flights will be sustained for the continued supply of essential items for the people of Sarawak,” he said.
Lee said his ministry has been monitoring the air transportation sector closely since the outbreak of Covid-19 and the ensuring impact of the Movement Control Order (MCO) which forced airlines to drastically reduce flights.
This had affected the businesses depending on speedy delivery of goods ordered.
Lee said his ministry had stepped in to intervene after the private sector complained that consignments of masks, hand sanitisers and personal protective equipment for Sarawak was held up in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) after airlines scaled down flights to barest minimum level following the imposition of travel restrictions and MCO.
The ministry on Monday this week had ordered a halt to all passengers express boats and speed boat transportation operations in the state.