PM comes bearing goodies
By Raynore Mering and Irene C, The Borneo Post
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Infrastructure, education including economics of rural Sarawak spelt out in additional federal allocation
KUCHING: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday announced several allocations for Sarawak with greater emphasis on rural development such as infrastructure and education.
He said the federal cabinet had recently approved an additional allocation of RM1 billion for Sarawak for the implementation of infrastructure projects under the Prime Minister’s Department.
At the same time, he said RM3.9 billion would be spent by the Education Ministry to supply 24-hour water and electricity to rural schools in the state and in Sabah.
He also said there would be more Sarawakian civil servants absorbed into the federal service as mid-level officers and upwards.
The prime minister’s announcement yesterday came days after the price of fuel was raised to an unprecedented level in the country, raising some concerns about the impact on development in Sarawak, particularly in the rural areas.
Many politicians had expected Abdullah to announce some ‘Gawai goodies’ for the state during his visit after he had done the same for Sabah a few weeks earlier and they did not appear to have been let down.
Abdullah said rural areas were a priority for the government and in line with that, he had given instructions for the mid-term review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) to focus on projects that were needed by rural folk.
“This is important because we want to make sure that the rural areas that are still in need are not sacrificed or forgotten,??? he told a press conference at the Kuching International Airport before returning to Kuala Lumpur.
“We need to put infrastructure like electricity, water and roads in place in the rural areas. It is very hard to bring development to these areas without this infrastructure. And we need to distribute the funds fairly,??? he added.
He pointed out that the Project Implementation Coordination Unit under his department had come up with a new formula for the distribution of funds that took into account the size of an area, the population and level of development in the state concerned.
In this respect, he said Sarawak was allocated RM12.365 billion under the 9MP, which is the fourth highest among all states, but the needs of the state were being looked into again in the national plan’s mid-term review this month.
Similarly, Abdullah said eradication of hardcore poverty and the reduction of the poverty rate to 2.8 per cent by year 2010 remained one of the government’s main objectives.
He said the government had established a poverty focus group to conduct a census as part of poverty mapping and they paid special attention to Sabah and Sarawak.
He revealed that the census involving poor and hardcore poor families in Sarawak was 98 per cent done and would be fully completed by the end of this month.
So far, 42,654 families with an income of less than RM1,500 a month had been surveyed and they were included in a national poverty data bank or ‘e-KASIH’, Abdullah said.
“The databank allows us to focus on our poverty eradication programmes more effectively,??? he said.
At the same time, he said given the hike in fuel prices, the government was also looking into the possibility of issuing fleet card for rural transportation.
On the appointment of Sarawakian civil servants into the federal service, Abdullah said he had instructed the Public Service Department to implement a new scheme to fill in the vacancies in the federal service and attention would be given to vacant federal posts in the state.
In this respect, he announced that Sarawakian, Mat Omar Johari, was recently appointed the state’s new federal financial officer.