Syarikat Pusakabumi advisor Grace Lim said a shortage of 10,000 cylinders was expected in three days.
MIRI (May 27): A Petronas Gas distributor has claimed that Miri division is at risk of facing a cooking gas shortage in the next three days as it is having difficulties making deliveries from Bintulu due to the state’s new Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOP).
Syarikat Pusakabumi advisor Grace Lim said in a statement today, the company’s trailer or lorry drivers were stopped at the Bintulu roadblock as their Covid-19 RT-PCR test results had a 14-day validity period and not seven in accordance with the new SOP from May 25 to June 7.
“They were told at the roadblock that the new SOP which came into effect recently, only allows the test result to be valid for seven days. Thus, the drivers of the trailers who depart from Bintulu, are asked to do new RT-PCR tests to be allowed inter-division travel.
“For your information, the waiting time for RT-PCR test result is three days, which means that the trailers and lorries carrying the gas cylinders are forced to be grounded for three days just for the test results,” said Lim.
During the three-day period, she said a shortage of 10,800 cylinders was expected to happen.
“With the festivity coming up, it is expected that the stocks for cooking gas cylinders will be drained out and the company will be forced to temporarily close its store during the Gawai season.
“We are worried that Miri will be in chaos due to the lack of LPG cooking gas supply,” she said.
Meanwhile, Lim hoped the government would revise the decision of shortening the validity period of the RT-PCR test, considering the additional expenses that businesses faced during these difficult times.
“In our case, each trailer will need two loaders. So, there will be three persons per trailer each delivery. The expenses for RT-PCR test for three persons is amounting to RM960 for every seven days and there will be an extra expenses of RM3,840 per month.
“If the government insists on the new SOP, our company will be forced to increase the price of our gas cylinders, as we are unable to sell at the same gas price as other divisions anymore. This will create a domino effect and the end users will be the one suffering from these consequences,” said Lim.