By Karen Bong
KUCHING, April 6: The Sarawak Cabinet has approved a new policy to empower urban local councils as the agency responsible for the maintenance of roads and drainages, marking a major shift towards more efficient and streamlined public infrastructure management.
Deputy Minister for Public Health, Housing and Local Government Datuk Michael Tiang revealed that the decision is part of several new policies by the ministry to be rolled out this year.
With this policy, he emphasised that the Public Works Department (JKR) and the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) will channel their maintenance funds and allocations directly to the local councils.
These councils will now be fully in charge of overseeing road and drainage upkeep within their jurisdictions.
“This will resolve a long-standing confusion. Previously, when the public raised complaints—say about potholes or blocked drains—they didn’t know who to refer to. Sometimes, they would report to the local council, only to be told it falls under JKR or DID,” he told DayakDaily when contacted today.
Tiang added that this overlapping responsibility often delayed maintenance work and frustrated the public.
“You hear things like, ‘we need to fix it here and there, but it’s not ours—it’s under DID’. That’s confusing. By giving full authority to urban councils, we eliminate this problem,” he said.
He highlighted that this approach would ensure quicker response times and better service delivery without having to navigate bureaucratic red tape across multiple agencies.
“The parties—our ministry, JKR, DID and the local councils—will meet after Hari Raya to finalise the implementation details. We will leave the administrative coordination to them,” he added.
Describing the decision as “the way forward,” Tiang stressed that this will not only increase accountability but also ensure that basic infrastructure is better managed and maintained for the benefit of the people.
“This is about efficiency, clarity and improving service delivery. Ultimately, it means Sarawakians will see road and drainage issues being resolved more effectively,” he said. — DayakDaily
