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Bus crash near Gopeng kills driver, injures 10 passengers
RTD: AES tender process was transparent
Dewan Negara passes three Bills

Bus crash near Gopeng kills driver, injures 10 passengers

Posted: 04 Dec 2012 07:45 AM PST

Published: Tuesday December 4, 2012 MYT 12:40:00 PM
Updated: Tuesday December 4, 2012 MYT 11:45:25 PM

IPOH: An express bus driver was killed and 10 passengers injured after the vehicle crashed into the back of a trailer along the North-South Expressway near Gopeng at about 12.40am Tuesday.

Kampar OCPD Supt Ng Kong Soon said the driver, Abdul Rahim Musa, 57, died on the spot while 10 others who sustained light injuries were sent to the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital.

"The bus was carrying 13 passengers and heading to Ipoh from Kuala Lumpur before crashing into the back of the trailer while going uphill," he said, adding that the remaining three passengers did not sustain any injuries.

RTD: AES tender process was transparent

Posted: 04 Dec 2012 07:36 AM PST

PUTRAJAYA: The Road Transport Department (RTD) has denied claims that suppliers of the Automatic Enforcement System (AES) were appointed without issuing tenders, and done in haste.

Its director-general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan said, the tenders were made carefully and transparently and spanning almost eight years, before the AES started operating in 14 locations from Sept 23.

Solah said to get a picture and ensure the effectiveness of the AES, senior officers of the Ministry of Transport visited countries using the system in 2005.

"The government was briefed on the outcome of the visit. It agreed to implement AES and set up a steering committee aided by five work committees," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Based on the report, Solah said the Government agreed in 2006 to offer nine companies to take part in the tender process. The companies were Commercial Circle (M) Sdn Bhd (ATES Sdn Bhd)(with robots from Germany); Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd (with Redflex from Australia); TESS CAPITAL Sdn Bhd (with Poltaich from Australia); Tricubes Berhad (with SAGEM from France); Precision Hawk Eye (M) Sdn Bhd (with Sianco Traficco from Spain), Acropolis Avenue Sdn Bhd (from China); Neza Teguh Sdn Bhd (with Sensys from Sweden); Tenix Solutions Pte Ltd (with Tenix from Australia and Hyundai Information Technology from Korea.

Solah said Tenix Solutions Pte Ltd and Hyundai Information Technology Co Ltd did not submit technical proposals while seven technology suppliers did so.

"After a technical evaluation, only six joined live demonstrations. The tests took more than a month in Putrajaya, Shah Alam and the Guthrie Highway from June to July 2007.

Solah said only Redflex Traffic System Ptd Ltd represented by Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd and Robot Visual System represented by ATES Sdn Bhd passed the technical qualifications of the Technical Committee.

"After a series of negotiations between the Government and the companies, the Government on Dec 9, 2011 signed an agreement with the two companies," he added. - Bernama

Dewan Negara passes three Bills

Posted: 04 Dec 2012 07:07 AM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Negara on Tuesday passed the International Transfer of Prisoners Bill 2012 and the Strata Titles (Amendment) Bill 2012.

Apart from the two Bills, the Dewan Negara also passed the Employees Social Security (Amendment) Bill 2012, to increase the age limit for eligibility to obtain the invalid and survivors' pensions from 55 years to 60 years.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Lee Chee Leong said during the winding-up session that the International Transfer of Prisoners Bill 2012, formulated to bring back prisoners of Malaysian nationality arrested abroad, would only be feasible through bilateral relations with countries that agreed to sign the deal.

"Currently, 2,622 Malaysians including 481 women are being imprisoned in 59 countries for various offences including drug trafficking and credit card scams," he said, adding that 99 countries in the world practised the system of international transfer of prisoners.

Lee said in prisons abroad, Malaysian convicts had to participate in the rehabilitation programmes there which varied according to the culture, religion and language practised.

"Being away from the family will to some extent influence the rehabilitation and reintegration process into the community. Therefore, there is a need for the International Transfer of Prisoners Act to be created."

He said the Bill would also enable foreign prisoners to be transferred to their respective countries to serve their imprisonment and to undergo rehabilitation to facilitate reintegration into society," he said.

"Statistics from the Immigration Department and the Royal Malaysian Police show that more than 40,000 foreigners have been detained and charged each year for various offences including under the Immigration Act," he added.

Meanwhile, Natural Resources and Environment Deputy Minister Tan Sri Joseph Kurup in winding-up the debate on the Strata Titles (Amendment) Bill 2012, said the Act was expected to overcome the issue of applying and registering strata titles for old buildings occupied before 1996.

The Bill, he said, was an enhancement to the Strata Title Act 1985 which was amended four times - in 1990, 1996, 2001 and lastly in 2007.

He said during 27 years of implementation of the Act, land administration throughout the country had successfully registered over 970,000 strata titles involving 15,000 multi-storey building schemes.

The House will sit again Wednesday. - Bernama

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Selasa, 4 Disember 2012