Baru Bian
KUCHING: PKR Sarawak chairman Baru Bian is disappointed that there is no fiscal arrangement in place for the implementation of the devolution of powers to the Sarawak government in the Budget 2018.
He said this was an indication that the federal government is not sincere in its promise to devolve powers to Sarawak.
“We are advocating arrangements based on the Scottish model whereby we will be given a lump sum of the budget allocation and it will be up to us to allocate the spending as best we see fit, instead of getting our allocations from the Federal Ministries, when they make the distributions to the various states.
“This model (in the Budget 2018) is not consistent with our position as equal partners in the Federation, and it again shows that the government of Datuk Seri Najib Razak is only good at paying lip service to our demands,” he said in his immediate response to the Budget 2018 tabled in Parliament yesterday.
He pointed out although Sarawak was said to get the biggest slice of the rural infrastructure development budget, more substantial allocations would need to be given in order for Sarawak to make better progress in catching up with the infrastructure of Peninsular Malaysia.
He said the allocation of RM2 billion for the construction of the Pan Borneo Highway will not be sufficient, considering that RM16 billion worth of contracts were awarded in December for the project in 11 packages, and the work on the various packages is being carried out at the same time across Sarawak.
“My sources have told me that payments have been delayed for work already done, and if the project is to be completed in 2022, then the Federal Government needs to allocate more funds to ensure that work on the various stretches are on schedule,” he said.
The Ba Kelalan assemblyman also questioned whether the funds of RM1 billion announced in the Budget 2018 for the repair of dilapidated schools in Sarawak will be forthcoming.
He explained this was because many promises were made during last year’s state election by Barisan Nasional leaders including RM1 million for
SK St Lawrence, Sri Aman promised by the Prime Minister and RM500,000 for SM Riam promised by the Deputy Prime Minister.
The other promises were RM500,000 for SK Pujut Corner, RM500,000 for SM Pei Min, RM300,000 for SJK Chung Hua Bau, RM35 million for SMK Long Semadoh and unspecified amounts for SK Long Laput and SMK Matu upgrade.
“I am interested to know how many of these promises were actually fulfilled.
“It was stated in the last Education Blueprint that by December 2013, all 1,608 schools requiring critical repairs would be fixed and that these repairs would start in Sabah and Sarawak, the number of dilapidated schools in Sarawak being 800 at that time,” he said.
He added that in 2014, the Federal Government also announced an additional budget of RM1 billion to repair dilapidated schools.
“The number of dilapidated schools does not seem to have decreased over the past few years, but in fact is said to be 1,020 now, which raises the question, how much of those allocations was actually approved and disbursed? Making allocations is well and good, but the government needs to cough up the hard cash,” he said.