MIRI: Puspakom Miri's facilities and services need to be upgraded to accommodate the increasing number of heavy vehicles in line with the rapid development of infrastructure development projects in Sarawak.

Sarawak Minister for Transport Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin said that the increase in projects such as road construction, ports and industrial development has increased the need for a more efficient vehicle inspection system.

According to him, the situation demands a more efficient and swift vehicle inspection system to avoid any disruption to logistics operations and construction projects.

“If vehicles fail inspection or take a long time to be approved, it will affect the smooth running of the work at the project site.

"Therefore we want this process to be expedited," he said during a working visit to Puspakom Miri on Monday.

Currently, the inspection capacity at Puspakom Miri is around 190 vehicles per day, while the daily average is around 145 vehicles.

Although still within capacity limits, increased demand in the future is expected to require additional facilities, equipment and personnel.

In this regard, Dato Sri Lee suggested that the Puspakom Miri area be expanded, including adding space and amenities to accelerate the flow of vehicles.

In addition, he said among the improvements being implemented include an online appointment system which can now be made up to three months in advance, compared to one month previously.

"Vehicles that fail inspection due to visual factors such as tires, lights or reflectors are now expected to be repaired on the same day without having to retake the queue number, thus speeding up the approval process," he said.

In addition, Dato Sri Lee said that Puspakom also plans to introduce the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology for vehicle undercarriage inspections beginning next year.

“With the manual method, the inspection takes about 10 minutes, but with AI it can be shortened to just one minute,” he explained.

In a related development, he also emphasised the need to upgrade or relocate Puspakom facilities in Bintulu to a more suitable location.

He said this was because the existing site was no longer able to accommodate current needs in line with the rapid development in the area involving heavy industries and ports, in addition to the proposed construction of an integrated lorry terminal at a suitable location in Bintulu. -UKASnews