MARUDI: The government has approved RM500,000 to improve the 19km access road to seven longhouses at the Sungai Peking area in Tinjar.
Assistant Minister of Public Utilities (Water Supply) and Marudi assemblyman Datuk Sylvester Entri announced this during a working visit to the longhouses on Friday.
This brings the total fund allocated to the region to RM1 million. Entri also chipped in another RM10,000 in support of the local initiative to improve access road to the longhouses and a primary school there.
Entri brought with him a PWD engineer Perry Lim, councillors and longhouse chiefs during the visit to Rumah Jampang. He said a tar-sealed road could cost at least RM20 million for this particular stretch and he would push for it with the higher authority.
The initial RM500,000, he said, was meant for repairs of the critical stretches of the 19km road.
The local people have taken the initiative to hire a road grader to improve the road to make it passable to vehicles.
“Each vehicle owner chips in RM150 to the repair fund, but many contributed up to RM500 to hire the road grader at RM1,000 per day,” he said.
Entri approved RM10,000 from his Minor Rural Project fund in support of this endeavour, saying the local people needed the road badly.
Among longhouse chiefs accompanying him to inspect the road were Pemanca Enggah Muga, TR Jampang, TR Marcos Minggu, TR Tadong, TR Mathias Depa, TR Wat, a school headmaster and councillors.
Entri said the government through his ministry had channelled nearly RM0.5 million to improve the various basic infrastructure at longhouses in Sungai Peking longhouses and the recent addition brought the amount to RM1 million.
“We are sensitive to the needs of the people in these remote longhouses, and bringing PWD officers to the village enables them to understand the local peculiarities,” he said.