KPDN EXPLORING TRANSPORT SOLUTION FOR MADANI RAHMAH SALES IN INTERIOR AREAS - FUZIAH

KUALA LUMPUR, 5 Mac (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) is studying the possibility of appointing a transport company as the operator of the MADANI Rahmah Sales Programme (PJRM) in the interior areas of Sabah and Sarawak.

Deputy Minister Datuk Dr Fuziah Salleh said that the move was seen as a solution to the constraints faced by existing operators, who found it difficult to reach the areas due to high logistics costs.

“The programme sometimes does not reach interior areas because operators are unwilling to travel there due to transportation cost challenge. That is why they often reject (requests to go to interiors).

“So we are looking into whether these transporters can become Rahmah Sales operators since they already receive logistics subsidies from the ministry,” she said during an oral question-and-answer session at the Dewan Negara today.

She said this in reply to a supplementary question from Senator Abun Sui Anyit, who asked about a more targeted mechanism to stabilise the prices of basic necessities in interior areas, including the potential involvement of cooperatives and local transport operators.

Fuziah further explained that KPDN had set aside RM67 million this year under the Port-to-Port initiative for the Standardisation of Prices of Basic Necessities Programme in Sabah, Sarawak, and Labuan.

She said the subsidy was intended to cover the cost of shipping goods from Port Klang to major ports such as Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, to ensure that the prices of items like sugar and onions remain stable.

“The government has also allocated RM250 million this year under the Essential Goods Distribution Program for interior areas, covering 1,570 locations identified as needing Point of Sale (POS) facilities, of which 1,480 are in Sabah and Sarawak.

“This allocation is given to transporters appointed through a tender process to deliver basic necessities directly to POS in the interior,” she said.

Meanwhile, Fuziah said that KPDN had completed a Price Stability Study and set up a technical working group involving the federal government, state governments, and industry players to develop a long-term price stability strategy.

She said the ministry would also conduct a review under the Second Rolling Plan of the 13th Malaysia Plan to assess the need to increase the number of POS in areas not yet covered for the supply of essential goods.

--BERNAMA