Penang govt to provide incentives to taxi drivers and school bus operators

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang state government has channelled a total of RM899,700 worth of incentives to 2,343 taxi drivers and 656 school bus operators in the state.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the recipients would receive the incentive of RM600 each, in two payments this year.
"This year, there are a total of 2,343 qualified taxi drivers. 1,702 taxi drivers on the island and 641 in Seberang Perai.
"For school bus operators, there are a total of 665 operators, who have valid permits from the related authorities, who are qualified to receive the incentives.
"There are 330 school bus operators on the island and 326 school bus operators in Seberang Perai who can receive the incentives," he said in his speech during a ceremony to hand out incentives to taxi drivers and school bus operators in Sungai Nibong, here.
Lim added that the state government had allocated the incentive for taxi drivers since 2013, while a similar incentive was given to school bus drivers since last year.
Meanwhile, Lim said the state government will be releasing the first prediction report by a US-based company of a possible outbreak of dengue spots using artificial intelligence (AI).
Lim said state Agriculture, Agro-based Industries, Rural Development and Health exco Dr Afif Bahardin would announce the first prediction of a possible outbreak which is between Jan 30 until Feb 28.
He said the purpose of announcing the prediction was to alert those in the affected areas to be more careful.
Penang is the first state in the country to use the AI method to predict a dengue outbreak.
"This game-changing surveillance system which we call CAT (Crush Aedes Totally), incorporates big data analytics and epidemiological research," he said.
Lim said the state health department had tested the accuracy of the prediction by using AI to analyse the data last year with an 81% accuracy rate.