Sarawak needs more funds
KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg is calling on the federal government to increase the development allocations to Sarawak by at least four times.
He emphasised that this will allow Sarawak to speedily upgrade its rural infrastructure like roads, supply of treated water, electricity, internet, schools, clinics as well as agricultural and economic programmes.
"In the past, the federal government had been making development allocation according to the size of our population which was generally taken to be about 10 per cent of the total Malaysian population," he informed the State Legislative Assembly in his winding-up speech yesterday.
"This development allocation may be sufficient for social projects but is clearly not sufficient to develop a landmass which is 38 per cent of Malaysia's total landmass," he said.
This, he added, thus accounted for the relative lack of basic infrastructure and the current backwardness in the development of the state's rural communities.
"This is a major error which I hope the new federal government can correct in their relationship with us. The new federal government must increase the development allocations to Sarawak by at least four times," he pointed out.
That being said, Abang Johari urged the new federal Works Minister Baru Bian to ensure that Sarawak, which is his home state, be given its proper and due allocations for development and infrastructure works.
He pledged full commitment to ensuring that Sarawakians will no longer be deprived of basic needs and the opportunity to a better and more prosperous life.
"Many areas in Sarawak are still in need of treated water as they do not have access to it. I have found out that during my travel and engagement, it is necessary for us to rationalise the mechanics and models of water project funding and implementation," he explained.
"All this while, we are funding the projects through reimbursable funds and loans from the federal government. We were totally at the mercy of the ministry concerned which fully controlled the disbursement of funds," he said.