Norizan (third right) presents a memento to Lee while others look on.
KUCHING (July 24): The Road Transport Department (JPJ) Sarawak has increased the number of appointment slots from 70 to 100, said Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin in a statement yesterday.
He said that this strategy will enable more people to be served and will help reduce waiting time for online booking.
This decision was made following a meeting between the Transport Ministry and JPJ Sarawak yesterday due to feedback from associations and the public on the difficulties in dealing with JPJ Sarawak, especially in making payment for transport services such as the renewal of road tax and vehicle registration.
“One of the complaints made by the public was regarding making appointments via the online form through JPJ Sarawak’s Facebook link. Due to a large number of people trying to make an appointment, it was acknowledged that most of the slots were taken up within minutes.
“This due to limited qouta allocated on each counter to meet the MKN SOP requirement for public counter services. It is also known that JPJ Sarawak telephone lines are also congested most of the time.
“However, JPJ Sarawak has also taken the initiative to call clients to confirm the reservation in order to ensure the appointment runs smoothly,” he added.
To further improve the efficiency of the counter services, Lee said JPJ Sarawak will also increase the capacity of staff working from 50 percent to 60 percent starting Monday (July 26) in line with the circular issued by the Chief Secretary to the Government of Malaysia.
Lee added that this would also increase the output of transactions and workload of the department to meet the increasing demand of the public, especially those in Bintulu.
In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, he said that JPJ Sarawak also announced that it is giving all motorists in Sarawak a grace period up to Sept 30 to renew their road tax and driving licenses so motorists whose license or road tax has expired should not be concerned.
He also encouraged all motorists to renew their vehicle insurance and have the cover note ready for inspection in the event of roadblocks by enforcement authorities.
The police and JPJ enforcement unit have already been notified of the grace period, Lee said, adding that it was imperative that all motorists whose road tax has expired to make use of the grace period to renew their insurance.
He said that while JPJ Sarawak encourages people to use online platforms through MyEG services, motorists in Sarawak will have to pay more as the rate is by default the Peninsular rate and there is no Sarawak rate.
“They will pay less than their Peninsular counterparets if they are to pay at the counters at JPJ offices in Sarawak,” Lee said.
He said that from the discussion, he had suggested and requested JPJ headquarters in Putrajaya to add a separate droplist in the JPJ MyEG so motorists from Sarawak can select Sarawak and enjoy lower rates when paying for road tax renewal or other services online for vehicles over 2000cc, both registered and used in Sarawak.
Among those present during the meeting yesterday was JPJ Sarawak director Norizan Jili.