KUCHING, Jan 13: Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong urges the Sarawak Economic Planning Unit (EPU) to expedite the distribution of the one-off financial aid under Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (7.0) to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and micro businesses the soonest possible.
Yong in a statement today said businesses have called for the distribution of BKSS7.0 aid to be made before the upcoming Chinese New Year which falls on February 1.
She added that businesses were having a hard time due to the Covid-19 pandemic and were in need of financial aid from the government.
As such, she pointed out that the State government should not further delay the distribution of financial aid but quickly fulfil its promise as it is unacceptable to keep delaying the aid which was promised last year.
“The BKSS 7.0 one-off financial aid was opened for online application some time in October 2021.
“Despite the submissions being done about three months ago, majority of the SMEs and micro-businesses are still waiting for the aid from the Sarawak government.
“No doubt there is a small percentage of SMEs which had either received the full amount of RM10,000 or the first payment of RM5,000, but the majority of the companies including the micro-businesses have yet to receive a single sen as promised,” she said.
Yong who is a member of Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) expressed disappointment with the EPU which handled and processed the applications.
She noted that there was no official statement to give updates and details regarding the number of applications received and the exact date for the disbursement of funds from the unit until today.
Hence, she called on the EPU to update the applicants as to how long it would be need to process all the applications as well as give a deadline by which it would fully release the financial aid to eligible companies. — DayakDaily
