Chong proposes two fire stations for Stampin constituency

Chong (left) submits the application letter to Nga during his courtesy visit.

KUCHING (Jan 18): Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen yesterday submitted an application to the federal Ministry of Local Government Development for the setting up two fire stations in his constituency.

The application was submitted to the minister Nga Kor Ming during Chong’s courtesy visit to him yesterday.

In a statement yesterday, he said there was no fire station in the whole of Stampin constituency, despite the fact that Stampin had a state Minister for Local Government and Housing, who is holding watching brief over fire stations for the federal government.

“Stampin consist of three state constituencies, namely, Kota Sentosa, Batu Kitang and Batu Kawah covering an area of 194 km2.  Though it had 121,000 eligible voters as at the last general elections, and being the fastest growing area in Sarawak (both in housing estates and commercial property), the number of residents is more than 250,000 because many voters in Bandar Kuching are physically lining in Stampin constituency and many non-Stampin-voters from all over Sarawak also reside in Stampin constituency because of better job opportunities.

“As such, there is an urgent need for the setting up of at least one fire station in Stampin.  It is also necessary to meet the ’10-minute response time’ target set by the (Fire and Rescue) Department,” he added.

Chong said applications for the setting up of the two fire stations were first applied by the State Fire and Rescue Department in 2019.

However, before the application could be carried out, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government fell and the application had been kept at bay since.

He added that the Perikatan Nasional government totally ignored the proposal.

“In the proposal by the State Fire and Rescue Department, instead of trying to acquire a vacant plot of land and building the proposed fire stations from scratch, the department has proposed to purchase existing light industrial warehouse in the areas and carry out some renovation to convert them into a fire station.

A few industrial warehouses have been identified for the proposed purchase and conversion into a new fire station,” he added.

He hoped that Nga would expedite the application and approve the necessary allocation and grant for the proposals.

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