KUCHING, July 12: Opposition assemblyman David Wong (DAP-Pelawan) is urging the state government to pay more attention to local contractors registered under the state’s Unit Pendaftaran Kontraktor (UPK).
He told the august House this afternoon that all this while the state government seemed to give attention to big contractors from the peninsula registered under the Pusat Khidmat Kontraktor (PKK) of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Wong noted that when employees of these peninsula-based contractors had labour disputes, they needed to travel to the peninsula to settle them, which is a relatively costly undertaking and inconvenient.
“The state government boasts about taking care of our own people and yet their actions were completely opposite when they chose PKK contractors over UPK ones.
“The state government must take immediate action to ask all its ministries, departments, agencies and local councils to conduct an audit on how serious the problem is in order to protect local businesses,” he said when debating the Head of State’s address this afternoon.
On another issue, Wong advised the state government to push for Sarawak companies to have at least 50 per cent share in supplying Jet A1 fuel to airlines in the state, now that the state has Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros).
He said the Jet A1 fuel used by jet airlines in the state amounted to some 150 million litres annually, with an estimate value of RM375 million.
“Petronas supplies around 85 per cent of the market while Shell has the remaining 15 per cent,” Wong claimed.
“But there is not even one Sarawak player in this market although to my knowledge there are some companies that have the capability and expertise and licence to supply the Jet A1 fuel in Sarawak with the Department of Civil Aviation’s (DCA) certificate and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd licence to operate as a Jet Fuel supplier in the airports and the Ground Handling Certificate CAT8-Aviation Fuel Supply, certified by the DCA,” he said.
Wong proposed that Petronas and Shell just concentrate on the supply side of the equation and leave the retailing part to Sarawak companies, just like how petrol stations in the state works. — DayakDaily
