RM200 mln to manage natural disasters
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is expecting more than RM200 million from the Federal Government to manage natural disasters.
Sabah Assistant Finance Minister Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan said earlier this week, the state government had put in a request to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob during the National Disaster Management Committee meeting.
The request was for RM147 million for infrastructure repairs due to floods and RM83 million for Covid-19 expenditures.
The recent RM18 million presented by the prime minister was for immediate use including for Covid-19 management.
Prior to this, the State Disaster Management Committee has received RM8 million for disaster relief.
“The Kota Kinabalu MP should have checked his facts first before making comments with ill intent to gain political mileage,” he said in a statement here on Sunday.
Nizam said the Prime Minister during his visit to Sabah had also given assurance that the Federal Government will be giving out more assistance to Sabah.
He was responding to the statement by DAP MP Chan Foong Hin that the RM18 million allocation for disaster relief efforts in the state, pales in comparison to the RM78 million pledged to help flood victims in Kedah last month.
On Sept 16, the Federal government, through the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) has allocated more than RM18.24 million to help Sabah manage countermeasures against disasters to ensure the welfare of those affected was always protected.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the allocation would be used for buying 2,000 units of Food Kits (RM160,000), 2,500 units of CTents (RM961,250), as well as the operations of the State Disaster Management Committee (RM20,000), operations of 22 districts under the Disaster Management Committee (RM1,100,000) and Covid-19 operations management (RM16 million).
The Kota Kinabalu MP should have checked his facts first before making comments with ill intent to gain political mileage.
Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan