Ismail Sabri (centre) gestures during the press conference. He is flanked by Uggah (right) and Nanta.
KUCHING: A total of RM3.374 billion had been spent to connect households in Sarawak with electricity under the Rural Electrification Scheme (RES) between 2010 and this year.
Rural and Regional Development (KKLW) Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who stated this, also pointed out that all the RES projects in the state had been implemented.
He said the amount accounted for some 48 per cent of the total allocation for RES projects for the whole country over the past seven years.
“I would like to stress here that the allocation for the implementation of RES project for Sarawak is big, almost half of the total allocation,” he told reporters after chairing the Rural Executive Councillors and Minister Coordination Meeting (Mexclub) here yesterday.
On rural road projects, Ismail Sabri said some RM177.9 million had been allocated for Sarawak under the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020), which constituted about 20.4 per cent of the total allocation for the whole country.
Aside from that, he said Sarawak had also been allocated a total of RM1.499 billion for rural water supply under the 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015) and 11th Malaysia Plan, taking up about 25.5 percent of the total allocation for the whole country.
“So, budget or allocation from KKLW alone for Sarawak is big compared to other states,” he said.
As for Project Perumahan Rakyat Termiskin (PPRT), Ismail said a total of RM94.4 million had been allocated for Sarawak this year, which accounted for about 24 per cent of the total allocation for PPRT for the whole country in 2017.
“For PPRT, we leave it to the state government to decide where to build new houses or which houses to be repaired because they know better where to build new houses and which houses to repair,” he said.
Present at the press conference were Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah and Rural and Regional Development Deputy Minister Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi.