SMC to divide zones into smaller groups for better problem-solving, says councillor

Ting (third left) checks the contract workers and their equipment.

SIBU (Dec 28): Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) plans to divide the town’s zones into smaller groups so problems could be solved more efficiently, said councillor Jenny Ting.

The SMC Public Health, Environment and Municipal Services standing committee vice chairperson said when all the problems go back to the council feedback group, they might take a longer time to resolve.

“With these smaller groups, we will include contractors, community leaders, supervisors for them to monitor. Through this we can do a better job,” she said during a briefing and contractual technical specification requirements and verification for SMC contract workers for grass cutting and town sweepers at Dataran Tunku Haji Bujang today.

She said that there are 12 zones for grass cutting and five zones for street sweepers, where each zone has between 15 and 20 workers.

“The contractors must comply with the contract include the number of workers stated in the contract,” she said.

On the briefing, she said it was to get contractors to verify their workforce, tools, and equipment to enable them to commence work next year.

“This is being done every year, but this time, we group them together.  Previous years we go to their depots at different times.

“Sometimes, it may not be complete due to limited space.  This time, we ask them to come together,” she said.

She said contracts are issued on a yearly basis and, this year, SMC would give them the ‘One Year plus One Year’ scheme.

Under this scheme, contractors with a good performance will have a contract for another year without tendering, she explained.

“If they are not performing well in one or two months, we can terminate already. So that is why public feedback is important,” she said.

Ting said SMC would also put up a list of licensees and their telephone numbers on the council’s website.

She added contractors who received many complaints would run the risk of being blacklisted.