Power, water for all rural villages
KOTA BELUD: The Sabah Rural Development Ministry (KPLB) is targeting that all rural villages in the state will have access to clean water and electricity supply by 2035.
Its minister, Datuk Ewon Benedick, said the state government was also committed to building more new homes through the hardcore poor housing project and would also upgrade rural roads for the benefit of the people.
“The ministry’s 10 key result areas and 316 key performance indicators (KPIs) were launched on Dec 6, 2018, and to ensure that the set targets are achieved. We have to draw up a strategic plan in line with the current situation as the state and federal governments have limited budget.
“In addition, we look forward to the participation of nongovernmental organisations, government-linked companies and corporate companies to assist the government through their corporate social responsibility programmes in achieving the set targets,” he told reporters at the closing of the Kota Belud Youth Development Programme here, yesterday.
Ewon said the ministry was in the process of revising and updating the 1998 Sabah Rural Development Strategic Plan as it was no longer relevant to the current state policies.
He also hoped that the review and updating of the Sabah strategic development plan could be completed and announced later this year.
“This year, the government will launch the National Rural Development Policy and Sabah KPLB has reviewed the policies.
“We have conducted workshops to give our inputs on how the policy could be implemented in Sabah,” he said.