Deputy domestic trade and consumer affairs minister Rosol Wahid said the Temporary Measures for Government Financing (Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19)) Act 2020 was gazetted in December last year to help those affected by Covid-19.

However, he said only about 25% (or 267 bus operators) had applied for the restructuring.

“There are more than 1,000 bus operators nationwide but the number that applied for the restructuring is less than 30%.

“The results of an analysis found that as many as 75% of bus operators have not applied.

“This number is quite low given the problems they face.

“So, we hope bus operators who are in trouble would come and discuss with banking institutions or credit companies,” he told reporters after officiating the Terengganu Bus Operators 2021 annual general meeting here today.

He said of the 267 bus operators who had applied for restructuring, 195 were successful while the remaining 74 companies failed in their applications due to various factors such as high outstanding arrears.

In the meantime, Rosol said the bus operators’ associations nationwide should play their roles in publicising the facility on restructuring instalment payment so that more bus operators can enjoy the assistance provided by the government.

He said the government, through other ministries, also played its role to help the group.

This included having the Bus and Taxi Hire Purchase Rehabilitation Scheme, Perlindungan Ekonomi Dan Rakyat Malaysia, flexibility in borrowing conditions, 50% exemption on all interest charges and payments as well as creating a Covid-19 Mediation Centre.

Rosol said the restructuring was also aimed at preventing their vehicles from being repossessed by banking institutions and credit companies when instalment payments were not made.