MIRI: The federal goverment will give its full support toward the development of Baram Growth Node that has been earmarked for the Integrated Highland Agriculture Station (IHAS).
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said as sign of support he would adopt two villages namely Kelabit-majority Long Peluan and Penan-majority Long Beruan situated under IHAS.
“They will get special attention from me and hopefully I can get progress report from these two villages on quarterly basis,” he told reporters here today.
Earlier, Muhyiddin attended a 15-minute briefing by Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu on the development of IHAS that encompasses eight villages.
Muhyiddin said three aspects of development for the two villages would be given priority namely income, healthcare and education.
According to a state government statement today, IHAS in Baram, located at an altitude of 3,000 feet above sea level, is larger than Kundasang in Sabah and Cameron Highlands in Pahang.
“The Sarawak Agriculture Department will start implementation of the IHAS covering 634 hectares while work on an area of 20 hectares has already begun,” it said.
It said a total of 1,178 hectares of high yielding rubber project involving six villages had also begun.
“In the 11th Malaysian Plan, the Regional Corridor Development Authority which has been tasked with overseeing and managing the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score) will be developing IHAS with the Department of Agriculture,” it said.
The statement said an initial funding of RM6 million had been allocated for the construction of access and farm roads.
Baram constitutes one of the five growth nodes under SCORE; implementation of four others, Samalaju, Mukah, Tanjung Manis and Tunoh began in 2009. -Bernama