Assembly passes Bill to expedite devt of northern sub-region
This augurs well with the objective of establishing the economic corridors in order to address regional development imbalances between regions in the state. Consequently, two agencies namely HDA and Urda under Recoda were established to spearhead the development in these sub-regions.
THE State Legislative Assembly ( DUN) yesterday approved the Regional Corridors Development Authorities (Amendment) Bill 2017 which seeks to create a new Northern Region Development Agency ( NRDA) to expedite development for the northern sub-region of Sarawak.
The Bill was tabled by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan before DUN Speaker Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar after getting majority support from members of the House.
The NRDA is added on to the existing agencies, namely the Highland Development Agency ( HDA) and the Upper Rajang Development Agency ( Urda) under the Regional Corridor Development Authority ( Recoda), to enhance its capacity.
During the tabling of the Bill, Awang Tengah said that due to the huge land mass covered under SCORE, the government has found it necessary to demarcate these areas into sub-regions.
“This augurs well for the objective of establishing the economic corridors in order to address regional development imbalances between regions in the state,” he informed.
For this purpose, he continued, three sub-regions are identified within the SCORE areas namely, the highland area, upper Rajang area and the northern area of Sarawak.
“Consequently, two agencies namely HDA and Urda under Recoda were established to spearhead development in these sub-regions,” he added.
Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, Deputy Chief Minister
“Through the establishment of these three agencies, Recoda will be more focused in executing its roles and functions to bring more investments and socio economic development in these remote and rural areas,” he said.
Awang Tengah added that this will enable Recoda to harness economic potentials in these areas by bringing in expertise in various fields to plan and develop the areas.
“Since these areas are still lagging behind in terms of infrastructure development such as roads, water and electricity supply, the establishment of these agencies will enable Recoda to be in a better position to seek more funding from the federal government,” he said.
Awang Tengah informed that since the inception of SCORE, Recoda had received RM3.6 billion from the federal government to implement 19 SCORE projects and total approved contractual commitment amounting to RM4.2 billion for 75 contracts were awarded.
When winding up the debate on the Bill, he said all members of the House as well as existing agencies should continue to deliberate on what needed to be done to enhance development within the SCORE areas.
“Let me assure this august House that this Bill will strengthen Recoda and instil confidence among investors and stakeholders in the running of Recoda, more importantly, the excellent leadership, political stability and social harmony that are advocated,” he added.
The amended Bill also did away with deputies.
Awang Tengah said instead of having two deputy chairmen, currently two members of Recoda Board who are also the deputy chief ministers, are already appointed chairmen of HDA and Urda.
“Another member of the Board will be appointed as chairman of NRDA. To facilitate the above initiative, there will be no specific appointment of deputies,” he said.
“Instead, the Chief Minister ( Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg) is empowered to appoint a person to temporarily discharge the functions of chairman in the event the chairman is unable to act. However, the number of Recoda members remain the same,” he added.
Earlier during the debate, Jefferson Jamit Unyat ( BNBukit Goram) highlighted that Urda would face a difficult task in developing Kapit due to lack of talent and population scattered over wide areas while a comprehensive and massive land is specifically needed to identify major projects for the area.
“Nevertheless, the masterplan study will take time but the people cannot afford to wait for years for development to be implemented,” he said.
While waiting for the masterplan study, he proposed that Urda immediately work out with Ministry of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development to implement planting of agriculture products like rubber, pepper, vegetables and fruit trees which could generate revenue for the local people.
In addition, he hoped that the people running Urda who were not familiar with the area would understand the feelings of locals and have the courage and dedication to fulfil the objectives of the agencies.