Loke: MTSB’s role will not overlap other agencies
PUTRAJAYA: The role of the Malaysian Transport Safety Board (MTSB) will not overlap with other agencies or incur additional government expenditure, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
He said the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) and its functions would be restructured when MTSB was set up.
“We will restructure the duties of agencies such as Miros to ensure we do not incur additional costs.
“There would not be any overlapping of functions,” said Loke at a press conference here yesterday.
MTSB, he said, would be the primary agency that investigates transport-related accidents, including air crashes.
“The formation of MTSB is currently still at the ministerial level.
“We have agreed to form the board. I expect it to be brought to Cabinet for approval at the latest by the middle of next year.
“That means, it could be tabled in Parliament during the second sitting of 2019,” said Loke.
He said the ministry had looked at the transport safety boards of the United States and Australia as references.
“Our aim is to set up a dedicated body to investigate accidents comprehensively. We do not have such agency now,” he said.
Earlier in Kuala Lumpur, Loke said Puspakom and Road Transport Department (JPJ) in Setapak would be redeveloped under a privatisation project costing over RM100mil.
The move follows numerous complaints of traffic congestion due the presence of heavy vehicles at the current site.
Under the plan, a new Puspakom centre will be built on a 4.45ha site before the existing one is demolished.
“The site for the new Puspakom centre must be approved by the ministry, and must be built away from the city.
“The developers will also have to build a new JPJ office to replace the existing building as well as workers’ quarters,” he said.
As a short-term measure to ease traffic congestion in the area, he said lorries weighing 20 tonnes and above would have to do inspections at the Puspakom centre in Shah Alam starting from Dec 24.
Loke said the open tender for the land swap deal was necessary as the government lacked the funds to redevelop the two plots of land which were under-utilised.