IPOH: The Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry will hold a meeting with the five major oil companies to resolve the delay in issuing fleet cards under the Subsidised Diesel Control System (SKDS), says its minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali (pic) .
He said the companies are required to submit and present a mechanism to speed up the issuance of the cards at the meeting this Thursday.
Armizan said from the latest records received from the companies as of July 8, a total of 165,897 fleet cards had been issued.
“A fleet card can be prepaid or postpaid. If it is prepaid, there is no issue as oil companies can provide the cards immediately.
“But the issue arises under the postpaid method as the oil firms need to look at attached documents, financial status and so on,” he told reporters at the launch of a consumer festival and the ministry’s carnival tour held at Stadium Indera Mulia here yesterday.He said the delay may be due to the “wait and see” attitude of a few firms in applying for subsidies despite the implementation of SKDS being announced in March.“They waited for the targeted subsidy to be announced before applying (under the system), causing a high volume of applications and thus the backlog.
“In terms of stock, all the oil companies actually have one million fleet cards,” he added.
Armizan said it previously took over a month for oil companies to issue fleet cards, but there were companies that could issue the cards in less than 10 days.
Although the production period is seen to be shorter, he wants the process to be expedited.
“At this Thursday’s meeting, we want to see what methods can be taken by these five oil companies to speed up the fleet card issuance process,” he added.
During the event, he also pre-launched two private sector initiatives under the Ihsan Rahmah initiative: Ihsan Cashback and i-Mesra, which are aimed at helping Malaysians reduce the cost of living and to increase the competitiveness of local traders.
“Ihsan Cashback gives cashback on purchases via participating companies. The goal is to help users save money, increase their purchasing power and maintain support for local traders,” he added.
He said i-Mesra is a digital business management platform that helps food service operators, among others, to manage inventory, provide financial management, marketing, digital authentication and liability protection.
