Cooperative distribution centres to be increased in Sabah, Sarawak

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives plans to add five more cooperative distribution centres in Sarawak and one in Sabah next year.

Its Minister, Datuk Ewon Benedick (pix) said this is aimed at ensuring a consistent supply of goods to cooperatives shops like Coopmart as well as to help stabilise the prices of daily necessities in rural areas and generation of income of cooperatives.

“The Malaysia Cooperative Societies Commission (SKM) with Federasi Koperasi Pemborongan dan Peruncitan Malaysia Berhad plans to, among others, establish cooking oil packaging factories (in Sabah and Sarawak) and open more main distribution centres, including in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said during the question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was replying to a supplementary question from Rodiyah Sapiee (GPS-Batang Sadong) about the ministry's plans to ensure Coopmart shops in Sarawak would also get a consistent and sufficient supply of daily necessities at a reasonable price.

Ewon said that, at present, there are five cooperative distribution centres in Sabah and two in Sarawak.

Meanwhile, he said details of the proposed initiative to help reduce the transport costs of goods from Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah and Sarawak are being coordinated and will be presented to the Prime Minister for the consideration of allocation and further action.

He said the initiative would also cover the mechanism to help stabilise the prices of necessities, which involves the cooperative movement through the provision of incentives to finance the costs of transportation.

“Based on the ministry’s research and observation through the SKM, the provision of transport subsidies for daily necessities from the Peninsular to Sabah and Sarawak through the cooperative movement will help stabilise the prices of necessities in rural and interior areas.

“It will also directly be able to empower the cooperative movement by opening new opportunities for cooperatives to fill gaps in the value chain, especially for the last delivery service in rural areas,” he said.

He was replying to the original question from Rodiyah, who wanted to know the extent of the study that had been carried out to assess the effectiveness of subsidies in reducing the cost of transporting goods from Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah and Sarawak. -Bernama