Shafie gave Sabah over 100 development projects – Warisan

KOTA KINABALU: Former Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal has given more than 100 infrastructure development projects to Sabah and these included the construction of roads as well as water and electricity supply.

“And even if the minister did not inform the Sabah state cabinet, the state officers were involved from the beginning. Thus it is their responsibility to report to their superiors such as the permanent secretaries of the ministries concerned or to the ministers,” Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) media representative Ir. Amarjit Singh said.

He said this when replying to the statement of Upko Komulakan chief cum Upko Kota Belud division chief Ewon Benedict claiming that Shafie, the president Warisan, had failed to adopt the philosophy of Sabah for Sabahans that he was now advocating while in power as the federal minister for Regional and Rural Development.

Ewon was of the opinion that Shafie was in a very strategic position to strengthen the special position of Sabah within the framework of the Federation of Malaysia, especially in terms of devolution of power; yet he ignored the aspirations of the people of Sabah as if he did not understand the uniqueness of Sabah cabinet and its own administrative system.

Ewon claimed that Shafie had implemented most of the development projects under his ministry without having gone through the respective authorities under the state government, like the State Cabinet, State Planning Unit, and district offices.

“Among others were projects carried out by subsidiaries of agencies under his ministry. This to me, in a way, undermined the state government,” Ewon said adding that there were reports and complaints from elected representatives and district officers who were not informed and were not aware of projects under the Rural and Regional Development Ministry because the projects were directly awarded to companies recommended by Shafie.

Amarjit in countering Ewon's claims said what Shafie had done for Sabah in terms of development when he was the Rural and Regional Development Minister was more than any of his peers.

“As the Rural and Regional Development Minister, Shafie had given more than 100 projects to Sabah, which included water and electricity supply as well as roads. No other former Rural and Regional Development Minister had actually developed the state and given those development projects for the benefit of the rakyat.

“In fact Ewon Benedict should be thankful as there was a water supply project in Kota Belud in which the old treatment plant was upgraded from a conventional system using tube wells to extract raw water from Sg Kadamaian to a modern raw water intake which eventually increased the water treatment plant capacity from 18 million litres per day to 22 million litres per day.

“In addition, the refurbishment of the Kota Belud plant has enabled the dwellers at Kampung Rosok and Kampung Bangkahak to enjoy the potable water facility,” Amarjit said.

He was also puzzled over claims that government officers such as district officers, district engineers or local representatives were not aware of such development projects as in any district there was a monthly meeting of district development which was attended by all the heads of departments.

“A typical example will be a road project where the JKR district engineer will be the superintending officer of the project and will table it in the district council meeting. So how can the local district officers be unaware of such activities in their turfs?” he asked.