Chong Chieng Jen
KUCHING (Sept 3): The State Disaster Management Committee’s (SDMC) decision to turn the Mile 7 Basketball Court into a Covid-19 testing centre from today is unwise, said Chong Chieng Jen.
“Currently, due to the Mile 7 flyover project and the partial closure of the Mile 7 traffic lights junction, traffic in the area is already a nightmare.
“If the Mile 7 Basketball Court were to be converted to a Covid-19 testing centre, the traffic jam around the Mile 7 Bazaar will be further aggravated,” the Kota Sentosa assemblyman said in a statement last night.
The Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman said it was clear from the Covid-19 testing centre at the Kuching South City Council Community Hall that there would be a long queue of vehicles by the roadside leading to the centre.
According to him, the road leading to the Mile 7 Basketball Court is a single lane and cannot accommodate vehicles waiting by the roadside.
“After my complaint to the SDMC on the choice of the venue as a Covid-19 testing centre, I have met up with the person in-charge. As the team has done all the preparatory work for the operation of the Basketball Court as the Covid-19 testing centre, it would be quite impossible to change the venue last minute.
“The authorities assured me that it will put more effort in traffic management of the place tomorrow (today) to see if it can be properly managed without much inconvenience to the road user,” he said.
Chong said if the situation is still unmanageable, then SDMC would need to find an alternative place.
He suggested that a better alternative for a Covid-19 testing centre in the vicinity of the Mile 7 area would be the Kuching International Airport (KIA) given its huge carpark and multi-lane roads to accommodate vehicles waiting by the roadside for drive-through testing.
“And the KIA is very under-utilised given the reduction of inbound and outbound flights,” he pointed out.
from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/2WOGuhr
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment