JBPM TO BUILD RM19 MILLION FOURTH K9 OPERATIONS CENTRE IN BERTAM - DG

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) will establish its fourth Detection Dog Unit (K9) operations centre in Bertam, Penang, at a total cost of RM19 million.

JBPM director-general Datuk Seri Nor Hisham Mohammad said the new facility, expected to be fully operational by 2029, will enhance response time for incidents in the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia, which currently depends on the K9 centre in Kuala Lumpur.

“The construction of the facility will take place on a 2.02-hectare reserve site, located within the JBPM Northern Region Air Base and the Bertam Fire and Rescue Station (BBP).

“If everything goes according to plan, the tender process is expected to open as early as the end of 2026, with construction scheduled to begin in 2027 and operations targeted to start in early 2029,” he said.

He said this at the Housing and Local Government Ministry’s (KPKT) Sentuhan Kejayaan programme, which was also attended by its Minister Nga Kor Ming, held at the Taman Sri Sentosa K9 Operations Centre in Jalan Klang Lama, here, today.

Nor Hisham said the new operations centre will serve the northern region, including Perak and the Cameron Highlands in Pahang.

He explained that relying solely on the Kuala Lumpur K9 centre for northern-region operations could affect response effectiveness, particularly in two key disciplines: forensic fire investigations and water cadaver recovery.

“In fire cases, evidence which could help determine the cause may be lost if the response is delayed. In drowning incidents, any delay increases the likelihood of the body drifting further with the current,” he said.

He added that JBPM currently operates with 34 detection dogs, but needs at least 56 to fully meet its operational requirements, including those of the upcoming centre in Bertam.

To optimise costs, JBPM is also planning to establish its own breeding programme, which will be managed by department officers, who recently completed three months of specialised training in the United Kingdom.

Currently, JBPM operates three K9 centres, located in Jalan Klang Lama, Kuala Lumpur; Tuaran, Sabah; and Serian, Sarawak.

Earlier in his speech, Nor Hisham said that the government had approved the procurement of 16 new detection dogs from the United Kingdom, for fire investigation and search-and-rescue disciplines, at a total cost of RM2.4 million, including an additional RM600,000 allocation from the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA).

-- BERNAMA