BY NEVILLE TIMOTHY SANDERS
KUCHING: It is still uncertain if this year’s Kuching Festival will be extended over a longer period or even held in separate venues for better crowd control.
Mayor of Kuching South City Council (MBKS) Datuk Wee Hong Seng said a few more things need to be considered and has already had a second meeting on the standard operating procedures (SOP) for the event.
“We might have to restrict how many people will come in and come out. And of course, there will be delivery services, pickup service, and there might be kiosks for people to have choice,” he said during a test kit handover to eight charities at AIA, Milan Square on Wednesday (April 20).
He said another option they are looking into is to extend the festival for another week to ensure more people turn up.
“These are all in the discussion stage. We have already had our second meeting and hopefully by next week, we will have a third meeting to finalise the SOPs.
Wee also said that he is considering extending the festival to another venue in order for the crowd to be spread out and controlled.
“We will try to finalise everything and it should be done by the end of this month,” said Wee.
“Other than the social distancing, wearing mask, there’s not much on sitting down and having a meal there. Because to us, we want to make everybody safe.”
He explained that he wants to make sure everybody gets to enjoy the festival while staying safe.
“These are all in our discussion, whether we want to extend by another week. If it’s needed, it’s either we extend the time or we extend the date.
“Because after two years, we don’t want to miss out on anybody by taking all the precautions, just for us to be aware that Covid-19 is still around. So we will make sure when people come around, they enjoy the festival while still feeling safe,” he added.
He said he didn’t want to rush the process as he didn’t want another cluster to come out of the festival.
