KUALA LUMPUR (May 23): Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) Workers Union has stated its support to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's decision today to dissolve the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), which will have its functions taken over by the Ministry of Transport.

"This decision has reflected that the government understands the need to consider the interests of the people and the country. Efforts should be made to avoid redundancy of tasks between ministries and commissions," the union's president Abdul Razak Md Hassan said in a statement today.

He said the establishment of SPAD has contributed to a bureaucratic system which had negative implications, causing wastage in operational costs.

"What we see is that the supposedly transformation plan has in fact caused inconveniences to the users of the system," he added.

The Prime Minister had earlier today announced that the government will dissolve SPAD, along with Barisan Nasional's controversial propaganda unit Special Affairs Department (JASA) as well as the National Council of Professors in an effort to downsize the public sector as part of the federal government's plan to cut spending, amid increasing burden towards the nation's financial health.