By Ling Hui
KUCHING, May 28: The Sarawak government is giving out one-off RM500 cash incentives to each owner and operator of “penambang” boat rides registered with the Sarawak Rivers Board (SRB).
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said a total of 200 individuals including “penambang” owners and operators would benefit from this measure under the sixth Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS 6.0).
In hopes to alleviate the financial burden of the people, he said the Sarawak government estimated that the cash incentive measure will cost a total expenditure of RM100,000.
Meanwhile, Abang Johari also announced the one-off RM500 cash assistance to e-hailing drivers and driving school instructors where payments would be made through the SarawakPay application.
This measure, he said during a press conference at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here today, would cost the Sarawak government up to RM1.6 million.
Similarly in the transportation industry, he said passenger van operators, taxi drivers, school bus and van operators registered in Sarawak will receive one-time cash incentives of RM600 each.
A total of 960 passenger van operators, 1,980 taxi drivers, 740 school bus and van operators will be involved with total expenses of RM2.2 million by the Sarawak government.
Under the current BKSS 6.0, there were 15 measures announced altogether where nine of them involved cash incentives and the remaining six were of discount incentives.
The total expenditure incurred in BKSS 6.0 is RM1.4 billion and all will be borne by the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS)-led government.
Since its first rollout of the financial assistance package, the Sarawak government had spent a total of RM3.1 billion from BKSS 1.0 to 5.0 since the Covid-19 pandemic hit in March, 2020. — DayakDaily
