PRS president eyes new state seat to be carved out of Hulu Rajang parliamentary seat
KUCHING: Baleh assemblyman Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing believes at least five new state constituencies are expected to be added to the present 71 seats before the next state election, which is due in 2016.
Though he is uncertain about the details of the new constituencies, he is sure there would be one new state constituency in Hulu Rajang parliamentary constituency which is made up of Baleh and Belaga state constituencies.
“Hulu Rajang needs to be subdivided to have an additional state constituency because of its area size, which is as big as Pahang,” the Land Development Minister told thesundaypost recently.
He said the delineation exercise on Hulu Rajang was already at the fine-tuning stage.
Masing, who is also the president of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), said his party would request the state BN to allocate the new state constituency in Hulu Rajang to the party since Baleh, Belaga and Hulu Rajang were all under PRS.
“These constituencies, state and parliamentary, have been under PRS. Our ground support is there. That is why PRS will request the new constituency to be under us. Secondly, it would be easier for politicians to deliver their services or administer the areas.”
On the proposed Baleh HEP Dam, Masing said it was highly probable that it would start earlier than the Baram HEP Dam as there was no social issues and protests in the area.
“There will be no social problem as the people there (in Baleh) do not object to the building of the dam. Further, there has been a trusting relationship between political and civil service leadership and the locals.”
Though he was not directly involved in the dam project, he believed the dam would be built within two to three years, according to schedule.
“I know because the building of the road from Kapit to Baleh is already on going. The alignment has been approved by the State Planning Authority and compensation for the alienation of the land to give way to the road has been paid off.”
He said discussions had also been carried out with the affected locals without creating much attention to avoid the intervention of the NGOs.
“We have to do it quietly because we don’t want NGOs to be involved. These NGOs need to make noises inside and outside (the state) because without doing so they will not get their funding.”
The Baleh Dam, when completed, is estimated to be able to generate 1,400 megawatts of power, which will be fed into the state grid, for both industrial and domestic usage.