Uggah: Betong poised to be a more progressive, prosperous division
Betong is poised to be a more progressive and prosperous division in line with the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030, said Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
The Deputy Premier said with strategies and programmes under the Betong Division Development Agency (BDDA), the people there will see better income and standard of living.
“Local leaders with their own plans too will also facilitate the transformation,” he said at a gathering for civil servants in Betong Division at Dewan Tan Sri Stephen Kalong Ningkan on Saturday night.
However, the Bukit Saban assemblyman said environmental issues would be inevitable amidst the pursuit of greater progress and prosperity in Betong.
“There will be the ever increasing household and commercial waste generated. We can’t just rely on landfills to deal with this.
“So I am thinking of having incinerators in all big towns in the division,” he said, adding that a meeting would soon be convened to address the matter.
He expressed his desire to see Betong remaining ‘green’ to not just attract more visitors but also emerge at the cleanest division in the country.
Towards this end, Uggah called on all civil servants in Betong to continue giving their strongest support, commitment and cooperation to realise this vision.
“Together in the spirit of ‘Segulai Sejalai’, we can
accomplish this.”
He also paid tribute to past leaders such as former deputy chief minister and Layar assemblyman Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu whose contributions had resulted in Betong folks having comprehensive road networks and full access to power and water supply.
“Now we want to complement this by developing economic programmes and activities to generate more income.
“We already have high-income earners here from among the oil palm and pepper planters. But we want to have more high-income
earners by 2030 in line with the objectives of PCDS 2030,” he said.
On BDDA, he said the agency is now introducing modern precision farming practices like fertigation to turn the division into a regional food hub.
“We have two agroparks in Bebuling and Lubok Tamang. Perhaps we should create a few more.
“The Spaoh sub-district has been earmarked for an annual double harvest padi project. We also have plans to exploit our tourism potentials, leveraging on our pristine nature, colourful culture and our past history revolving along our great
nationalist hero Rentap.
“We hope BDDA can come up with a tourism masterplan within two years from now,” he added.
In this regard, Uggah said a sum of RM16 million had been set aside to construct a replica of Rentap’s fortress at Bukit Sadok.
On a separate issue, Uggah said he hoped that a new haemodialysis centre each for Spaoh, Kabong and Beladin would be ready by the end of this year.
“We have identified the sites and allocated a sum of RM5 million each for their constructions,” he said.