SIBU: Local councils are taking steps to make towns and cities across the state ‘friendlier' to the visually-impaired and other less-fortunate individuals by improving accessibility.

Assistant Minister of Local Government Datu Dr Penguang Manggil said the needs of this segment of society would be incorporated into building designs/planning of local authorities (PBTs).

"The requirements for the visually-impaired as well as the other less-fortunate people are being incorporated into elements of the PBTs such as in toilets, five-foot-ways, shopping malls and hospitals.

"This gives better accessibility to this segment of society for them to lead a normal life like other citizens" he told The Borneo Post yesterday.

Penguang, who is Marudi assemblyman, was asked if PBTs were making towns and cities in the state more friendly to the visually-impaired and individuals with special needs (OKUs).

Society of the Blind in Malaysia (SBM) hopes that Sibu would one day become ‘friendly' to the visually-impaired.

SBM president Mohammed Nazari Othman noted that presently, the town lacks facilities to increase mobility and accessibility for the blind.

"The most basic of such facilities is traffic lights with audible signals and tactile pavement, which we still do not have in Sibu" he said at the closing of the ‘White Cane Day' celebration here last Sunday.

There are several parking bays in the town designated for OKUs to facilitate their movement.