MIRI: The contractor of the RM1 million upgrading works on Saberkas Night Market, one of Miri city’s top tourism destinations, has been ordered to complete the project before the fasting month start. Miri mayor Adam Yii Siew Sang said the slow progress of the upgrading project by the contractor had caused the traders, now operating at a temporary site since Jan 2018, to be unhappy as their income had been badly affected because fewer customers visited the temporary site compared to the permanent site.
“Initially it was delayed because steel materials are not available locally so the contractor have to import from the peninsula, and that caused a one-month delay and extended up to May 2, 2018,” he told reporters after attending Miri City Council (MCC) meet-the-people session at a mall here yesterday.
Yii said after the May 2 deadline the contractor again failed to complete the project on schedule as the roof of the market has not been installed yet.
“We want the contractor to complete the physical aspect of the project within 10 days or a week before Ramadan that is expected to start on May 17,” he said. He said, once the structural aspects of the project was completed, the next task would be installing electrical and water supplies. “Traders are anxious to go back to the permanent site of Saberkas Night Market before Ramadan starts because business was thriving during that period,” he said.
For the record, the contractor had been given the task to complete the project within three months starting January this year and to be ready by March 2018 but was given an extension to May 2. Presently there are 126 traders operating at the night market that opens every week on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The popularity of the Saberkas Night Market among local and foreign tourists, especially from neighbouring Brunei, was evident when it was listed in the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) official website as one of the must visit destinations in Miri city.
