Liwan appeals for devt in Belaga

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KUCHING: Belaga District is in urgent need of development as some 30,000 people in the district still lack basic amenities such as road, electricity and treated water even though it is the main producer of electricity in the state, Belaga assemblyman Liwan Lagang said.

“It’s unfortunate that when people are talking about good governance and enhancing the income for the people but here I am still talking about basic infrastructure and amenities for Belaga.

“I am still talking about road, water and electricity. This shows that we are still lagging behind although we are the producers of power for the whole state,” Liwan told The Borneo Post in his office at Bangunan Baitulmakmur here yesterday.

He disclosed that less than 50 per cent of the longhouses there were supplied with electricity from the grid system, causing most of them to use their own generators.

“All the longhouses below Belaga numbering about 40 settlements have not got these basic amenities.

“Currently only 19 villages are connected to the grid system and 55 of these villages are still using generators. And 55 of these villages still lack treated water and depend on gravity feed,” said Liwan.

The Assistant Minister of Culture and Heritage also hoped that the Belaga District would have its own council so that it would have enough funds to carry out minor projects in the area.

“It is high time for Belaga District to be elevated and to have its own council because as of now the current Kapit District Council, Belaga branch, is being manned by just one clerk and six local councillors to look after the whole Belaga District and sub-district of Asap.

“Meaning, currently there is no direct funding from the Ministry of Local Government. A case in point is when I asked the Kapit District Council secretary to repair a road in Asap; he said it was not under his jurisdiction. So we need the Ministry of Local Government to look into this urgently. And there are no enforcers at the Asap bazaar, allowing even foreigners to trade there,” he pointed out.

Currently, the total length of the road network in the whole district is 120 km of premix road, 316 km of gravel and logging road and 30 km of cement roads in the longhouses.

“And we hope that JKR will upgrade the 34km Mejawah-Belaga road,” he said.

In addition, Liwan also hoped the state government would agree to the road alignment for the proposed 155km Belaga-Merit road, as the army were now ready to implement the project.

“We’re looking forward for the chief minister to come and visit us as his priority so that he can see for himself our needs because we are in the SCORE area and the main producer of electricity. We hope to be among the first to welcome him since he took office a year ago.

“And I have a new-found confidence in this chief minister to bring more development to the rural areas including Belaga,” he said.

On another issue, Liwan said he had not briefed the chief minister on development matters in Belaga but had briefed him on major issues such as resettlement during Cabinet meeting.

He said about two thirds of the population of Belega were resettled in Sg Asap, Tegulang and Metalun.

“You see, I am dealing with resettlement issues where about two thirds of the population are resettled except for the people below Belaga. And the problems of resettlement are problems created by us (the government).

“We should foresee what resettlers should have. We should have learned from Batang Ai and Bakun except that Murum is a bit better. But to me we could still improve further because resettlement means we involve people and when we involve people, it involves education as the most important thing.

“We have not placed schools there. What we have there are just temporary schools. This is the most basic for humans to develop – education,” he pointed out.

“We are happy that CM is going to give communal land and we will capitalise on that. When we don’t have enough land to toil we will ask. Now we are in the process of gathering local leaders to demarcate their own areas and if they find out that they don’t have enough land to toil, then this is the time to ask,” he said.

The demarcation, he added, would include the islands in Bakun Dam which could be planted with rubber.

“We have a committee under Pemanca Umek Jeno to look into unresolved issues affected by the Bakun HEP Dam such as road, electricity, treated water. We are also in need of health clinics in Long Urun, Long Busang and Long Unai,” he pointed out.

Continuing on, Liwan said he planned to build a clinic in Long Busang on ‘gotong royong’ basis.

“All we need is for the Medical Department to send their personnel there to serve the people. We cannot let this people to live and die by themselves. So I am doing my very best with the little grant that I have,” he said.

Meanwhile, Liwan also hoped that the federal government would assist Belaga, especially in education.

“We cannot talk about world class education if our basic facilities are not there. I have told the deputy prime minister that some of the schools have been there for the last 40 years. These schools are substandard because when we talk about computers, there is no internet coverage even though we have generators,” he added.