JBPM SUBMITS PROPOSAL TO INCREASE NUMBER OF AIR BASES IN SABAH, SARAWAK
KUCHING, July 18 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM), which only has one Air Unit base at the Miri Airport for services covering both Sabah and Sarawak, has submitted a proposal to increase the number of bases in both states.
Its director-general, Datuk Abdul Wahab Mat Yasin said the department has already applied for land allocation from the Sabah and Sarawak governments for the purpose of building air bases which are necessary to further improve their services.
“For Sabah, we have held discussions with the Chief Minister (Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor) to get suitable land close to airports.
“Whereas in Sarawak, if we are following the planning and consideration by the state authorities, and if we are unable to build in Kuching, we will move to a central area such as Sibu, so that we can cover the whole of Sarawak more closely," he said.
He said this after the presentation of Service Medal Awards which was also attended by Sarawak JBPM director Datuk Khirudin Drahman and deputy director Tiong Ling Hii, here today.
Abdul Wahab said that apart from Miri, two other JBPM air unit bases are located in Bertam, Penang for the Northern Zone of Peninsular Malaysia and in Subang, Selangor (Central Zone of Peninsular Malaysia).
"If we follow the planning, we actually want to expand in Johor for the Southern Zone, and in Pahang for the Eastern Zone, seeing that there are special areas there, including in Sabah and Sarawak.
He added that under the 12th Malaysia Plan, JPBM also applied for additional four new aircraft to supplement the existing assets, namely two large-sized aircraft and two more medium-sized aircraft.
-- BERNAMA
