KUCHING, July 24: The Sarawak Road Transport Department (JPJ) is giving all motorists in the State a grace period until Sept 30 to renew their road tax and driving licenses if they have expired, in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Ministry of Transport Sarawak (MOTS) and JPJ in a joint statement yesterday said however, all motorists are encouraged to renew their vehicle insurances and have the cover note ready for inspection in the event of a road block/check by the enforcement authorities.
“In connection with this, the police as well as the JPJ enforcement unit have already been notified of the grace period given to all motorists who could not renew their road taxes and driving licenses during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is imperative that all motorists whose road taxes have expired to make use of the grace period given to renew their car insurances,” it said.
These were among the matters discussed between the Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin, his permanent secretary Datuk Buckland Bangik, MOTS Transport advisor Dr Lawrence Tseu and three JPJ senior officers led by the new State JPJ director Norizan Jili in a meeting convened at Baitulmakmur building yesterday (July 23).
The discussion was held to address public complaints and feedback on the difficulties in dealing with the JPJ, especially in making payment for transport services including renewal of road taxes and registration of vehicles.
Additionally, the JPJ also encouraged people to use online platforms such as MyEG. However, motorists in Sarawak will get to pay lower rates than their Peninsular Malaysia counterparts if they are to pay at the counter of JPJ offices statewide.
Following this, Kim Shin suggested and requested JPJ Putra Jaya to add a separate droplist in the JPJ MyEG so that motorists from Sarawak could select Sarawak and enjoy lower rates than what they are paying for renewal of their road taxes or any other services online for vehicles over 2000cc, registered and used in Sarawak.
The statement went on to say that the JPJ Sarawak has increased the number of appointment slots from 70 to 100 to enable more people to be served and will help reduce the waiting time for online booking.
“To further improve the efficiency of the counter services, JPJ Sarawak will also increase the capacity of staff working from 50 per cent to 60 per cent starting July 26, 2021 in line with the circular issued by Chief Secretary to the Government (Ketua Setiausaha Negara). This will also increase the output of transaction and workload of the Department to meet the increasing demand of the public especially those in Bintulu,” it added. — DayakDaily
