Budget 2013 a disappointment – PAS

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KOTA KINABALU: Sabah PAS Youth chief Lahiraul Latigu has described Budget 2013 announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Friday as another big disappointment for Sabah.

He asserted that the special attention given to Sabah under the budget as claimed by state Barisan Nasional leaders were actually small change and an unfair amount compared to the revenue taken from Sabah.

“This reflects the unimportance of Sabah in the eye of national BN and Umno leaders despite Sabah being a state they consider as their fixed deposit,” he said.

Lahiraul said RM72 billion was allocated for the oil and gas industry but based on previous government announcement, the Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal (SOGT) in Kimanis only cost RM100 million.

Other major related facilities is the RM1.5 billion power plant being built in the area, which brings the total investment to only RM1.6 billion or 2.2 per cent of total allocation, he said.

Lahiraul said: “This is just peanut compared to the petroleum taken out from Sabah, of which we will not get anything else other than the five per cent royalty.

“The SOGT will only separate the oil and the gas to be sent to Labuan and Bintulu respectively. These resources will later be exported and it is Labuan and Bintulu that will get the export taxes.

“The Prime Minister even confused Sipitang for Kimanis. Clearly he was referring to the Kimanis SOGT but in his speech he was saying Sipitang, which is the location for the ammonia urea plant, and not the oil and gas terminal.”

Lahirul is among the six plaintiffs suing the state government and Petronas over the Petroluem Agreement 1976.

The civil suit filed at Kota Kinabalu High Court earlier this week seeks to nullify the 1976 agreement.