Kg Sidenu residents feeling hot under collar over ‘missing’ bus stop

George pointing to the site where a bus stop should have been built to shelter the villagers from the sun and rain.

KUCHING, August 24: Residents of the 60-door Kampung Sidenu, located along the Kuching-Serian Road are in urgent need of a bus stop to replace the one that was removed during road expansion works.

This was highlighted by non-governmental organisation Habitat for Indigenous and Urban Programme (Hidup) after some villagers informed it of their predicament, which they have long endured.

“For the last two years, students and residents of Kampung Sidenu, 12 miles from Kuching, who depend on public transport have had to wait at the bus stop under the hot sun or pouring rain as their bus station (sic) has not been replaced since it was dismantled.

“According to the residents, they were told that the old bus station which was removed during road expansion works along the Kuching-Serian would be replaced by a new one after completion of the works.

“However two years on and despite pleas, there is still no sign of a new bus station,” the NGO’s president George Young Jr disclosed in a statement today.

He revealed that after the frustrated residents contacted Hidup, the NGO visited the site yesterday to have a look.

“Why is it so hard to build a bus station to replace the old one? How come after two years on, the relevant authorities have not done anything, despite all the resources allocated for “rural transformation projects?,” George asked.

He added that Hidup is constantly getting calls from rural Sarawakians who are frustrated by inaction by the relevant authorities and their local village representatives.

In the case of Kg Sidenu, George hoped that the village committee and the local council could act promptly on the feedback of villagers especially when it concerns their health, welfare and safety.

“Replacing a bus station that used to be there isn’t rocket science nor does it cost millions of ringgit. So I’m really puzzled why it hasn’t been done two years on. It’s just a simple bus station,” he added. — DayakDaily