KUCHING, Jan 17: Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen made a request to federal Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming to set up two fire stations in the constituency.
In a press release issued today, Chong, who is also Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman and Padungan assemblyman, said presently, there is no fire station in the whole of Stampin.
“Stampin consists of three State constituencies — Kota Sentosa, Batu Kitang, and Batu Kawah covering a surface area of 194 square km.
“Though it has 121,000 eligible voters as at the last general election, being the fastest growing area in Sarawak (both in housing estates and commercial property), the number of residents residing in Stampin constituency is more than 250,000 because many of the voters in Bandar Kuching are physically residing in Stampin constituency, and many non-Stampin-voters from all over Sarawak also reside in Stampin constituency because of better job opportunities.
“As such, there is an urgent need to set up at least one fire station in the constituency. It is also necessary to meet the ‘ten-minute response time’ target set by the department (Fire and Rescue Department — Bomba).”
Chong, who paid a courtesy visit to Nga recently, said the proposal for the two fire stations was first forwarded by the Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) in 2019.
However, before it could be carried out, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government fell and the proposal was ignored by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.
Chong said in the proposal, instead of acquiring a vacant plot of land and building the fire station from the ground up, Sarawak Bomba proposed to purchase existing light industrial warehouses in order to expedite the construction process and convert them into fire stations.
“A few industrial warehouses have been identified. We hope that Nga Kor Ming will expedite the application and approve the necessary allocation and grant for the proposals,” said Chong. — DayakDaily
