By Karen Bong
KUCHING, June 5: The public needing to send their vehicles for inspection at Puspakom (Computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre) have been urged to book their appointments online to keep roadsides clear for the safety of road users.
Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Youth secretary-general Milton Foo, in giving this advice, said that the residents, businesses and property owners were also frustrated with the inconvenience created by the long queues formed by vehicles waiting for inspections.
“Big vehicles like trucks, lorries and buses are parking in the vicinity of Puspakom all day long just to queue up for inspections. The queue can stretch until SMK Pending and along the small roads leading to City Square commercial centre.
“Moreover, it poses a safety hazard to road users who need to exit from all the junctions,” he told DayakDaily today.
However, Foo pointed out that this problem can be reduced or solved if customers can make their appointments with Puspakom online either through its website or MyPUSPAKOM apps.
“Once an appointment is booked, they just have to arrive 20 minutes earlier before the appointment time or even 10 minutes late and the vehicles will be inspected without having to queue all day long,” he explained.
Foo, who brought this issue up with Minister of Transport Datuk Lee Kim Shin, had together made a working visit to Puspakom Kuching today to get a better understanding of the situation as well as made several proposals to resolve the problems.
“I was made to understand that vehicles queuing here consist both of appointments and walk-ins.
“As such, Datuk Lee suggested that Puspakom create another separate lane for the walk-in customers,” he said.
Lee had urged Puspakom to write in to the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) for the opening of an extra lane and he promised to assist in getting the approval from Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
Meanwhile, Puspakom will also be extending its operating hours to every Saturday, from 9am to 4pm, for the whole month of June, effective tomorrow as measures to resolve the problem.
Foo expressed appreciation to Lee for taking up this matter seriously, immediately and aggressively to come up with effective short-term solutions to relieve the dilemma of the people affected by this problem.—DayakDaily
