Rural development remains a top priority for Sarawak government — Meluan rep
SARIKEI: The state’s ruling coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) will always accord special attention to rural development, in that it wants to narrow the gap between the rural communities and the urban populace in Sarawak.
In this regard, Meluan assemblyman Rolland Duat Jubin calls upon the rural people to take full advantage of the rural-biased development agenda being undertaken by the Sarawak government.
“All Sarawakians ought to work together with the state government towards transforming the socio-economic landscape of the state.
“The state government is sincere in helping to uplift the living standards of the rural folk, but it still requires feedback from the people to facilitate the charting out of a development plan for any particular area,” he told those attending a programme hosted by Sarawak Public Communications Unit (Ukas) at Rumah Inting, Nanga Meluan in Julau near here on Friday evening.
On his constituency, Duat said he had ‘a big plan’ for Meluan, which he acknowledged as still lagging far behind in terms of physical development.
“For Meluan, the areas of focus would still be on basic infrastructures such as road connectivity, treated water and electricity supply, as well as decent telecommunication coverage.”
Nevertheless, he was quite pleased to see that throughout his current term as the assemblyman of the area, various projects worth millions of ringgit had been approved and were already in early implementation stage.
They included a new water treatment plant with a production capacity of five million litres per day; a 33KV power station; the Meluan and Nanga Lasi bridges; tar-sealed roads linking up the remote pockets in Meluan such as Ulu Kanowit; as well as construction of telecommunication towers.
“The state government channels in RM8 million annually under the Minor Rural Project (MRP) and Rural Transformation Programme (RTP) grants, slated for improvement works on the infrastructures and facilities at longhouses and schools,” said
Duat, adding that allocations from his MRP grant would also go to the longhouse security and development committees and their respective women’s bureaus for them to run their activities.
Later, the assemblyman announce the approval for an allocation of RM5,000 requested by the women’s bureau of Rumah Inting.
Meanwhile, Ukas officer Duncan Luta said the ‘Ziarah Ukas’ programme served as a platform for the people to interact with their leaders.
He also highlighted the unit’s key role of facilitating two-way traffic meetings between the people and the government.
At the function, the Ukas team contributed food items to the needy households of the longhouse.
Political secretary to chief minister Brian Fung, Julau Disrict Office representative Andrew Ajan, longhouse chieftain Inting Itam and its women’s bureau chairperson Susylyne Sangan Entering, as well as local community leaders Penghulu Blawan Grinang and Penghulu Joseph Wong were also present.