Baru confirms no budget for protocol road maintenance

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Baru receives a warm welcome by his supporters upon his arrival at Miri Airport around 4.40pm today.

MIRI: Minister of Works Baru Bian has clarified that the claim made today by Miri mayor Adam Yii that there is no budget from the federal government for the Public Works Department (JKR) to continue providing maintenance works along the protocol roads is true, but only for the months of November and December of 2018.

During a press conference here today, Yii said that the federal government has recently instructed JKR to cease all maintenance works including grass cutting and drainage cleaning involving a length of some 72 kilometres of protocol roads in Miri.

However, Baru stressed that the allocation for such routine maintenance work has only been stopped for the month of November and December.

“If for November and December, that is true, because we no longer receive distribution (of allocation) for such maintenance work this year,” Baru told reporters when met at Miri Airport this afternoon.

Commenting further, Baru disclosed that the allocation for maintenance works along the protocol roads for 2019 is ‘very limited and restricted’.

“The Ministry of Works been allocated with RM820 million in 2018 for road maintenance purposes but this time we have only been allocated with RM100 million for 2019.

“Nevertheless, the Ministry of Finance has given assurance to us that they are prepared to provide additional funds to us if we ask for it and if it is necessary next year,” he added.
Baru is currently in Miri to attend the Borneo Evangelical Mission 90th anniversary to be held at Eastwood Valley Golf and Country Club tonight.