SMC to go paperless for all meetings from next year

SIBU (Dec 28): Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) will go paperless in all its meetings starting next month.

Its chairman Clarence Ting said each councillor will have a read-only tablet placed at the SMC meeting room.

“One tablet only costs about RM500 or RM600 and it is a read-only tablet, meaning they cannot go online and they cannot bring home.

“By doing so, we do not have to waste so much paper,” he said after chairing a full council meeting yesterday.

He said for yesterday’s full council meeting alone, about four bundles of A4-size paper were used for just one person.

“Imagine we have about 30 councillors,” he said.

Ting also said the amount of paper used did not include those used in other council meetings.

Thus, he believed SMC would be able to save a lot of money from next year onwards by utilising the tablets.

Meanwhile, on LED streetlights, he said the council would only install LED streetlights at the main roads first before extending them to commercial areas.

“We can only install the LED streetlights along roads under the council’s jurisdiction. For JKR (Public Works Department) roads, it is up to the department to do so.

“There is nothing we (SMC) can do about it.”

On a separate matter, Ting said the council is considering not organising concerts for next year’s New Year Eve Countdown event.

He said instead, SMC would look to put on a better fireworks display for the countdown.

Some 30,000 people are expected to turn up at Dataran Tun Tuanku Bujang Phase 1 here this Dec 31 for SMC’s Countdown 2024 event.

Event organising chairman Councillor Rory Wong told a press conference on Dec 14 that among the artistes scheduled to perform include Baby Shima, Masterpiece, Meruked, Ash Lu, Swan D, DJ Candy, and local talents Menoah Hudson, Joe Ashley, Janet Ling, T-Ga, Sibu Busker, Klunan Magat, Little Apple, Amazing X, and The Powertive.

The countdown will culminate with a 10-minute fireworks display.