Gerawat: State govt committed to step up devt in rural areas
MIRI: The Sarawak government through the Highland Development Agency ( HDA) is very committed to speeding up development in Telang Usan and Mulu constituencies.
In stating this, Mulu assemblyman Dato Gerawat Gala said HDA is one of the agencies set up by the Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, to accelerate development in the rural areas of the state. The other agencies are Upper Rajang Development Agency (Urda) and Northern Region Development Agency (NRDA).
“The objective of HDA is to accelerate development in rural areas so that the people will not be left out from the mainstream development agenda.
“For a start, the state government has allocated some RM1.5 billion to HDA and the government will top up the amount from time to time according to the needs,” he stated in his address when officiating at the earth-breaking and thanksgiving ceremony for the HDA road project at Kampung Daleh Long Pelutan, Ulu Baram recently.
Gerawat, who is also State Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker, said the RM1.5 billion allocation would be used to build roads and bridges in the areas.
At the same time, he added, the state government puts strong emphasis on providing clean water to the rural areas, with almost 20 water supply projects costing around RM210 million being implemented.
He was happy that almost 95 per cent of longhouses and villages in Baram were provided with 24-hour electricity supply through Sarawak Alternative Rural Electrification Scheme (Sares).
He added that the effort to supply power to other areas through Sares was being done in stages.
Later, he announced Minor Rural Project (MRP) grants of RM10,000 to the JKKK of Kampung Daleh Long Pelutan and RM5,000 to the village’s Borneo Evangelical Mission (BEM) church.
Also present were Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau, Marudi District Council chairman Edward Mendai and Temenggong Elizabeth Deng.