KUCHING: The Road Transport Department (JPJ) Sarawak will increase the number of daily appointments at its counters from 70 to 100.
Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin said this is to improve the counter services based on feedback and public complaints received by his ministry on difficulties in dealing with the JPJ especially in making payment for transport services including renewal of road tax and registration of vehicles.
“One of the complaints made by the public was regarding making appointments online through the JPJ Sarawak Facebook link.
“Due to the large number of people trying to make an appointment, the limited quota allocated to each counter caused most of the slots to be taken up within minutes.
“In addition, the JPJ Sarawak telephone lines are also congested most of the time. However, the JPJ Sarawak has also taken the initiative to call their clients to confirm the reservation in order to ensure the appointment runs smoothly,” he added.
Lee said this during a meeting with the new JPJ Sarawak director Norizan Jili at Baitulmakmur Building on Friday (July 23).
He said the increased number of slots would enable more people to be served thus helping reduce the waiting time for online booking.
“Furthermore, to improve its efficiency, JPJ Sarawak will also increase the capacity of staff working from 50 percent to 60 percent from July 26 onwards in line with the circular issued by the Chief Secretary to the Government.
“This in return, will also increase the output of transactions and workload of the Department to meet the increasing demand of the public, especially those in Bintulu,” he explained.
On another note, he announced that JPJ was giving all motorists in Sarawak a grace period up to Sept 30 this year to renew their road tax and driving licences. Hence, motorists whose driving licence or road tax had expired should not be unduly worried.
“Nonetheless, all motorists are encouraged to renew their vehicle insurance and have the cover note ready for inspection in event of road block/check by the enforcement authorities,” he said.
