Completion of road brings relief to villagers in Long Liwok
MIRI: Long Liwok folks are relieved that their mud- covered village road was completed in April this year and was launched by Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau at Long Liwok, Sungai Layun recently.
“The Long Liwok village project costing RM80,000 however does not come under Rural Transformation Project ( RTP), but it used a special fund I requested from Sarawak Development Office ( SDO) and implemented through Telang Usan District Office.
“This is a one- off project but the main project fund source that we look forward to is the yearly RTP allocation and I hope one day the government will consider giving a bigger allocation to us in the rural constituency as the urban constituencies which receive the same amount but have other agencies to implement public projects with their own department funds, whereas for us in the rural area, our council is too poor to implement such projects in the longhouses under their jurisdiction,” he added.
The state government’s decision to introduce RTP and allocate RM5 million to all its Barisan Nasional ( BN) representatives in the state since 2015 shows it is a caring, rakyat- centric government that is far sighted, which has become a game changer for rural constituencies like Telang Usan.
With a special budget allocated to each BN representative, some of the many requests for basic amenities for longhouses could be implemented faster, such as village roads, multi-purpose halls, drainage and jetties.
“To me, a people’s representative besieged with numerous requests from my constituents for projects, now with RTP allocated ever year, I can now list the projects and get it done according to priority.
“When approached by my people, I can tell them roughly now when the requested project would be implemented as I know I have the allocation and more importantly, the authority to decide the project list,” Dennis said.
He said this effort shows that none of the rural communities are left neglected in getting the basic necessities.
“The government has pledged to do its best to help those people in the huts and villages struggling to break the bonds of misery in helping themselves, for whatever the period, not because we seek their votes but because it is the right thing to do,” Dennis said, adding before the introduction of RTP, it was quite frustrating as the reps had no answer to give the people concerning their requests.
He also announced for this year’s RTP, he had submitted a total of 33 projects to be implemented for 33 longhouses yet to receive developments in the previous years.
Dennis personally brought officers from JKR Telang Usan to do site surveys in early March this year to enable the projects to be developed as soon as possible.
At the event, Dennis announced a Minor Rural Project ( MRP) grant of RM5,000 to the Long Liwok village security and development committee (JKKK) and another RM5,000 for its Borneo Evangelical Mission ( BEM) church.
Also present at the launching was Long Liwok headman TK Pasang Wan who thanked the government and Dennis for the continuous development in the village since the past six years which had changed the entire look of the village.
“As a village far deep in the jungle, our only way and hope to get development projects is by supporting and working well with Barisan Nasional,” he added.