SIBU, Dec 28: Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) is not a charity organisation that can offer free usage of its public facilities, says its chairman Clarence Ting.
However, it is prepared to give a reasonable rate for the public to use its facilities.
“We can give a special rate but certainly not free of charge for the use of our facilities. This is because SMC is not a charitable organisation. We are a council,” said Ting at the council’s full board meeting today.
Ting said this as there were two non-governmental organisations that wanted to co-organise their event with the council with the hope that SMC could provide them free usage of its facilities like the Rejang Esplanade and Sibu Gateway.
On the other hand, he said the council is prepared to provide a reasonable rate for the use of its facilities, but the tenant has to be responsible for the payment of utilities which include water and electricity.
“We can make the charge reasonable for organisations as we want more people to organise events. If the charge is too high, nobody would want to rent (our facility),” he stressed.
On another matter, he urged his councillors to refrain from patronising unlicensed eatery outlets.
“New restaurants are being opened every month. Councillors are advised not to go there as your picture will be taken (for their promotion). We are not discouraging new ones from opening except that we need to protect the public on hygiene matters and also to avoid any unfortunate incidents from happening when they are not licensed,” said Ting.
The council, he said, needs to come out with a list of licensed and unlicensed eatery outlets for appropriate action. — DayakDaily
