By Lian Cheng
BINTULU, Nov 7: Following Datu Muhamad Yakup Kari taking the helm of Bintulu Development Authority (BDA), the complaints of it being “indifferent” and “bureaucratic” have since ceased.
Muhamad Yakup took office on Oct 1, 2020 and incumbent Bintulu MP Dato Sri Tiong King Sing said the former has been performing very well with no more complaints against the local council that manages the town.
“He changed a lot of the systems in BDA. I think the team works very fast. Anytime any of the investors or the public have any problems with BDA, I would urge them to see the GM, the general manager of BDA (Muhamad Yakup) directly.
“In fact, I have been talking to him and he said his door is always open,” Tiong told DayakDaily in an exclusive interview recently.
To the Dudong assemblyman, the responsibility of public servants is to put people’s problems first.
“Resolve their problems first, that is very important. Of course for BDA (to operate effectively), it involves a lot of other departments also. That is why we need everybody to work hand-in-hand (to tackle all projects) including some of the development here,” said Tiong.
Instead of BDA, he said now Sarawak Planning Authority (SPA) is the agency which slows down development in Bintulu where approvals by the authority have been taking too long to get done.
This has led Tiong to decide to bring the matter up in the coming Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN).
“I will try my best after this PRU (the 15th General Election), in the next DUN meeting, I will bring up this issue that the investors have been facing (all these),” said the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to China.
He said he had brought up the issue to Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg who had taken note of it and made some changes to the project approval system.
Tiong however pointed out the incident took place quite some time ago and there was still room for improvement. — DayakDaily
