Dr Rundi (second right) presents a memento to Abang Johari as (from right) Asfia and Taib look on.
KUCHING: Rural areas in Sarawak will continue to see development to put rural folk on par with their counterparts in urban towns.
At the state-level Gawai Dayak 2018 dinner on Saturday, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg assured that the state government will continue to accord high priority to develop rural areas especially the provision of infrastructure and basic amenities.
“I have already announced various programmes for the rural areas including an allocation of RM1 billion for telecommunication infrastructure and an amount of RM1 billion for provision of water supply on top of existing allocation.
“These are among the many initiatives. More of course need to be done in the rural areas,” he said at the festive celebration at Penview Convention Centre in Demak Laut here.
Abang Johari said he was aware that infrastructure and basic amenities were critical issues that needed to be addressed to reduce the development disparity between the urban and rural areas.
He pledged that the state government will work closely with the federal government to ensure that development allocation for the rural areas “is not adversely affected by the change in government”.
“I also wish to assure that the Sarawak government policy will also address the issue of income disparity between urban and rural communities.
“For this to happen, more economic activities shall be planned and promoted in rural areas so that rural communities can benefit from incomes derived directly or indirectly from these activities,” he said.
Among these would be more innovative approaches to develop “unutilised land” such as Native Customary Rights (NCR) land, added the Chief Minister.
He said he also wanted to encourage more rural entrepreneurs to be developed.
Towards this end, Abang Johari said the state government needed to have policies which could facilitate such entrepreneurship to flourish.
“For example, I have already agreed and decided that for small entrepreneurs and smallholders, a land title is no longer a pre-condition for government assistance and employment of foreign labour.”
He believed that this would benefit the NCR landowners who had felt disadvantaged by policies which they saw as not being friendly to them.
He then conceded that rural economic transformation required more than just these.
As such, he said the state government had to review policies and practices that might hinder rural development.
“We also have to find new and innovative ways to inject vigour into the rural areas such as modern farming, and other economic activities that can generate income for the rural people.
“There is not much sense when we talk about becoming or being a developed state when there are households who are still struggling to make ends meet through their subsistence activities,” he added.
Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and wife Toh Puan Datuk Patinggi Raghad Kurdi Taib graced the dinner.
Among those present were State Legislative Assembly speaker Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar and Minister of Utilities Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom, who is organising chairman.