Manyin (middle) leads the other guests in the cake cutting of the MDS 60 Years Anniversary cake. Photo by Roystein Emmor
KUCHING (Dec 19): The ‘big dream’ to elevate Serian District Council (MDS) into a Municipal Council is not impossible to achieve, said Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Datuk Amar Michael Manyin Jawong.
Manyin, who is also Tebedu assemblyman, said he had been briefed at a recent meeting with MDS on plans being made to qualify as a municipality like its neighbours Padawan and Kota Samarahan.
He also said he too had been told about challenges currently faced by MDS to achieve the elevation in status, particularly in terms of revenue collection in its areas of jurisdiction.
“That (municipal council status) is definitely a dream for us. But we all must start with a dream. And hopefully this dream will come true in the next few years,” he said when officiating at the MDS 60th Anniversary Celebration dinner at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) last night.
Among the criteria to be met for a municipality is having a population of over 200,000 and a revenue of over RM20 million per annum.
A municipal council is allocated bigger funds from the government compared to a district council for purpose of development and service delivery.
Manyin said MDS, which now covers a larger area following creation of Serian Division, faces challenges in revenue collection particularly in areas previously under Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) where the waste collection service is provided by Trienekens.
He explained the payment of service to Trienekens for this service is high, causing little revenue to go to MDS.
“MDS’ areas of jurisdiction have been expanded to areas formerly under Padawan where they have Trieneken waste collection.
“Trienekens is not cheap, it is very expensive, probably half of MDS revenue (goes to paying the service). Therefore, I urge the Ministry of Local Government and Housing to really look into it, so that there will be revenue collection from these areas going to MDS (coffers),” he said.
Manyin also shared some history on MDS, which was previously known as Upper Sadong District Council before the name change in 1985.
He said a lot of schools in Serian were then established by the council and today the land still belong to the council.
He also said the council had built many roads in Serian, including the Serian – Tebedu Road.
He was also happy to note the opening of new supermarkets in Serian, but he hoped efforts to maintain toilet cleanliness will continue in order to make Serian a stopover town for travelers.
“The council has done wonders in the past 60 years,” he said.
Meanwhile, MDS secretary Constantine Jonas Noeb who spoke earlier said the council successfully collected RM9.9 million in revenue last year.
“For the first time, the council was awarded a four star rating in the service delivery by the Ministry of Local Government and Housing Malaysia which was in 2019,” he said.
A coffee table book on Serian District Council was also symbolically launched concurrently by Manyin at the same event that night.
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