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KCGCCI urges federal, state govts to address worker shortage in Sarawak
KCGCCI urges federal, state govts to address worker shortage in Sarawak
14.11.2021 (www.theborneopost.com) - KUCHING (Nov 14): The federal and state governments have been urged to enhance co-ordination in expediting the application process for the recruitment of foreign labour so as to address worker shortage in Sarawak.
In making this call today, the Kuching Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCGCCI) said the state is facing a severe shortage of workers and it is not helping that illegal foreign labour has not been rooted out.
“Sarawak has been facing shortage of workers in the recent years, which has impacted the development of various sectors including construction and agriculture particularly oil palm plantation and livestock breeding.
“While they are in need of foreign labour, they face a delay in being granted an approval to their application for foreign workers due to a lack of co-ordination between the federal government and the state government,” said KCGCCI.
The Chamber brought this up in a resolution passed during the Federation of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Divisions Chinese Association’s annual general meeting held via Zoom today.
In another resolution, KCGCCI called upon the Sarawak government to consider identifying a more appropriate location to set up a new port to give a boost to the commerce industry.
It pointed out that the current Senari Port in Pending here is in a dire need of an upgrade with new cranes to be installed in order to provide better services to all those involved.
“The facilities at Senari Port are outdated and inadequate and this has to a certain extent affected the operations of the port.
“On top of that, the watercourse at the port is not deep enough to accommodate larger vessels,” it said.
KCGCCI also appealed to the shipping companies and agents to be more transparent in their charges.
It said this is aimed at protecting the interest of not just importers and exporters but also consumers at large.
“At present, the shipping companies and agents in Sarawak have imposed high charges, some of which are double charges, on importers and exporters,” it added.
KCGCCI hoped that the government will take immediate action to address the issues raised.
https://www.theborneopost.com/2021/11/14/kcgcci-urges-federal-state-govts-to-address-worker-shortage-in-sarawak/