Lau (seated, third left) joins other SRDC councillors in a group photo.
SIBU: Senator Robert Lau assures the Sibu Rural District Council (SRDC) that he would continue to help push for the establishment of the council’s own office in Sibu Jaya, despite him no longer being its deputy chairman.
He describes it as a much-needed project for SRDC and Sibu Jaya, but more significantly, it is one project that he oversees that has yet to take off.
“The space and facilities in the building can be designed as a venue for neighbouring district councils to tap into. I will continue to assist SRDC in pushing for this project to take off soon,” he said in his farewell speech during the full council meeting yesterday.
At the moment, SRDC’s office is located in Wisma Sanyan, which also houses the headquarters of Sibu Municipal Council (SMC).
Lau had been SRDC deputy chairman since 2016, and prior to that, he was a SMC councillor for 10 years.
He sent his resignation letter to Minister for Local Government and Housing Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian following his swearing-in as a senator on June 22 this year.
Meanwhile, Lau said the works tender for the Pasar Tamu (farmers and jungle produce market) Sibu Jaya extension project should be out soon.
He said upon completion, the trading space at the market would increase by more than half.
“The current ‘tamu’ is full to the brim. Then, there is the five-star toilet at the Pasar Malam (night market)/Pasar Harian (day market).”
Lau said during his time as SRDC deputy chairman, he had spent a lot of time in Sibu Jaya and also with the Chinese villagers on the ‘West Bank’ – referring to a settlement area sited across Igan River in Bawang Assan here.
He quipped that due to this, he had sort of become the ‘de facto mayor’ of the satellite town (Sibu Jaya).
“I get to know the majority of the traders at the wet market, the ‘Pasar Ria’, the ‘tamu’ and the Pasar Malam/Pasar Harian in Sibu Jaya.
““I am very pleased to see how these markets have grown and become the fabric of the daily lives of the people there.”
Nonetheless, he observed that there were still many rural pockets within SRDC areas that needed a lot of infrastructures such as working streetlights and decent drainage.
In this regard, he said the SRDC had very limited development fund, in view of its core services such as repairing roads, managing rubbish collection, grass-cutting, drain cleaning, catching of stray dogs, managing the markets including the ‘tamu, regulating eateries and enforcing hygienic practices among the operators.
He also said many infrastructure projects slated for the longhouses in areas under SRDC jurisdiction had been undertaken via the Rural Transformation Programme (RTP) and Project Rakyat initiatives.
“There is still much work to do for these communities. Some are still throwing away household waste into the rivers, because there is no practical alternative when it comes to rubbish disposal and collection,” he said.