BN Backbenchers Club lauds budget’s focus on rural devt

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Abdullah Saidol surrounded by reporters at the DUN Complex after the tabling of the Supply (2017) Bill by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem.

Abdullah Saidol surrounded by reporters at the DUN Complex after the tabling of the Supply (2017) Bill by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem.

THE State’s 2017 Budget which gives greater focus on rural development gets a thumbs’ up from the state Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club (BNBC).

Its chairman Semop assemblyman Abdullah Saidol said the rural biased budget was good news not just to the rural population but also to all the elected representatives serving the rural constituencies in

Sarawak.

Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem yesterday tabled a budget of RM8.134 billion of which RM5.928 billion or about 73 per cent was for development while an amount of RM2.206 billion or 27 per cent was for operating expenditure.

Abdullah, who is also Chief Political Secretary to the Chief Minister, said the Chief Minister’s initiative to allocate 50 per cent or RM2.982 billion for rural development showed he was serious in his promise to develop the rural areas.

“The provision for rural development in 2017 is also higher compared to RM2.65 billion in 2016,” he said,” he said when asked to comment on the 2017 Budget at the DUN lobby yesterday.

Abdullah also lauded the state government’s initiatives to address the lack of doctors in rural clinics.

“In his budget speech, the Chief Minister said the state government would assist to establish 15 travelling-doctor teams covering 64 rural clinics which have no medical doctor.

“This will benefit the about 329,000 rural people in the state,” he said adding that the state government had allocated  RM2.8 million in 2017 for the purposes.

He noted that the Chief Minister’s initiative to provide rural population with treated water supply was also very much welcome by the assemblymen serving rural constituencies.

He said the Chief Minister acknowledged that the provision of treated water to the rural population needed to be beefed up and because of that, a new approach would be introduced to address the problem through the implementation of Sarawak Alternative Rural Water Supply (SAWAS).

SAWAS will benefit areas that could not be connected to water mains. The state government had allocated RM106 million for these initiatives.

“We are very happy with the 2017 budget because it shows that our Chief Minister is sincere and honest in his intentions to narrow the development gap between the urban and rural areas in Sarawak,” he said.