A done deal with SPAD

PETALING JAYA: More than 80% of the former staff members from the decommissioned Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) have been successfully placed in new jobs following a talent mapping exercise carried out by the Transport Ministry.

Its secretary-general Mohd Khairul Adib Abdul Rahman (pic) said following the dissolution of SPAD last year, minister Anthony Loke made sure that SPAD’s 961 staff would receive both monetary compensation and job placements.

A large number of the former staff from SPAD were transferred to the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD), which has replaced SPAD effective Jan 1, the Road Transport Department (JPJ), the Transport Ministry and the Commercial Vehicle Licencing Board (LPKP) in Sabah and Sarawak.

“We paid compensation to all the staff on Dec 31 last year. About RM23mil was spent towards this end.

“From SPAD, 340 staff were moved to APAD and 311 enforcement officers from SPAD were put under JPJ.

“Meanwhile, more than 60 were transferred to the ministry and tasked with planning and policy.

“We are also putting strength into Sabah and Sarawak by sending some to the LPKP there as we want to transform them into an economic entity,” said Mohd Khairul in an interview yesterday.

SPAD posts were not government posts, therefore there was a need to create new posts for the former SPAD staff, which was the reason why the placement took some time, said Mohd Khairul.

For the rest of the former SPAD staffers who have yet to get placements, Mohd Khairul said the ministry was attempting to place them into other government agencies and companies within the transportation sector.

“We went deep into every personality and checked their background because we wanted to make sure that when we offer them a new entity, it will be suitable for them,” he said.

He also said that APAD had effectively taken over the areas of responsibilities that SPAD previously held with the exception of SPAD’s powers of enforcement and appeals.

Mohd Khairul said SPAD’s enforcement powers were transferred to the JPJ while the ministry was handling the appeals.

“The whole gamut of what SPAD is supposed to do is still there and the functions of APAD now is similar to SPAD before.

“Previously, everything was under one roof in SPAD such as the enforcement, the policy and the appeals. We just did some repositioning,” said Mohd Khairul.

JPJ officers are also now empowered to conduct enforcement under Land Public Transport Act and the Road Transport Act, he said.

Starting Monday, APAD took over all licensing services under the Land Public Transport Act and started to process all operator licence applications.

There had been concerns raised over the approval of these permits, considering that APAD is still without a director-general but Mohd Khairul said that the APAD acting director-general currently has the authority to do so.

APAD deputy director-general (operations) Azlan Shah Parames Albakri had been appointed to carry out all functions, responsibilities and powers of APAD director-general until the post is officially filled, said Mohd Khairul.

“As far as the public is concerned, if they go to the counter and submit their applications, we will do the rest,” he said, adding that the ministry had submitted the director-general’s name and was now waiting for approval from the Public Service Department.