KUCHING, June 16: ‘Any plan is better than no plan and if there is no plan, then it is a plan to fail’, opines Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers’ Association (Sheda) Kuching branch chairman Dato Sim Kiang Chiok on the National Recovery Plan (NRP) announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday.
Calling it as “a much needed plan” to move Malaysia forward from the Covid-19 pandemic, Sim said NRP will definitely help the people to complement their own planning, be it business operation, working or social life.
“The NRP or the nation’s economic exit Pplan clearly spells out the three parameters of reduction of infection rates, numbers of available ICU beds and rates of vaccination. They are set into four stages with timeline over the next six months. When all the parameters are met according to the road map, we should be fully release into our old normal by end of this year.
“All of this is possible because of the availability of vaccines and our roll out programs as stated on the plan. The vaccine has proven to cure, reduce infection, stop hospitalisation and death due to Covid 19 virus,” Sim said.
He added that over in the United Kingdom and the United States of America, lockdown restriction is no longer an option because of their high vaccination rates of about 50 percent.
Calling everyone to do their part in fighting the pandemic, Sim said there should not be any more hesitancy on inoculation and he urged for full cooperation to register for it.
Since the balance of lives and livelihood must be looked into, he also opined that the National Economy Plan and assistance can be aligned to the NRP.
“Under the Pemerkasa Plus plan, most assistance such as cash handouts and wage subsidies will end in June, while targeted bank loan moratorium will end in August. So with a NRP that ends at end of the year, the assistance could be aligned to do in tandem with the same timeline.
“The federal government also needs to add more assistance such as tax collection relaxation; assistance to recapitalise the Small Medium Enterprise (SME); relaxing bank lending rules such as lending based on asset rather than cash flow and proven income and reclassifying non-performing bank loans from three months to six months,” he said.
Since Sarawak government is targeting to achieve vaccination rate at 80 percent herd immunity by August, and with the Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang 6.0 (BKSS 6.0) program scheduled to complete in December this year, Sim hoped that they will look into reviving the economy with recapitalisation and rebooting the business sector to achieve pre Covid-19 level and promote growth while creating jobs at the same time. — DayakDaily
