Fuel price may be lowered further

The government may further reduce the price of fuel according to global oil prices to help the people, said Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Jelaing Mersat.

“The government proposes to lighten their burden and may reduce the price according to the global barrel price of oil,” he said in reply to a question by Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Bandar Kuching) in the Dewan Rakyat here today.

Chong wanted to know if the government would reduce the prices of petrol and diesel on Sept 1 as promised although the prices had been reduced on Aug 22.Jelaing said the prices were reduced earlier than the announced date to reduce peoples’ financial burden sooner and the government will reduce prices further after considering all factors in two weeks or a month.

Meanwhile, while replying to a question by Henry Sum Agong (BN-Lawas), Jelaing said his ministry was aware that prices of essential items were high and were even higher in the highland areas of Bario, Ba’Kelalan, Long Semadoh and other highland areas in Sarawak.

“The main factor for this situation is high transportation costs for delivery and this cannot be avoided due to lack of transportation infrastructure, geograhical reasons and location,” he said.

He said the Sarawak state government had given subsidies for land transportation to supply fuel to residents in the interior areas.On fuel depots or mini-petrol pumps that will be set up in the interior areas of Sarawak to deal with the high prices of fuel there, Jelaing said his ministry in cooperation with the state government had set up a technical committee on Aug 18 on the matter.