DILAPIDATED: Most villagers dare not bring their vehicles through this damaged bridge which leads to the project area.
KUCHING: Villagers of Kampung Opar, some eight kilometres from Bau town near here are crying foul over the abandoned and dilapidated state of an inland fisheries projects for the people at an area called Tribuh.
Said to involve more than 60 households when it was launched by the state Agriculture Department in 1993, the project was meant to help villagers improve their income and eradicate poverty among the villagers.
The scheme required the participating villagers to construct fish ponds while the department’s role was to provide technical assistance and subsidies on necessary inputs like fish fry, drainage pipes, feed and others.
As the project was built some two kilometres away from the village, a farm road and a bridge were also built to connect the site with the village as it was a major component of the project.
After the farm road was constructed and the project took off, the participants were left to their own devices as far as the maintenance of the road was concerned.
“The maintenance of the road is obviously beyond the means of the participants and the road has since degenerated into a mere footpath, impassable to vehicles and barely passable on foot.
“As a direct consequence of the state of this farm road, the fish ponds in the project have been abandoned and the income supposed to be derived from those ponds has disappeared after the participants made only two harvests.
“This project is now in serious danger of becoming a total waste of resources and efforts for both the villagers and the government,” said PKR Mas Gading branch committee member Boniface Willy Tumek at a press conference at PKR Stampin branch office here yesterday.
He added that the condition of the road which was narrow and often muddy due to rain had deterred the villagers from bringing in feed, water pump and other heavy materials to maintain the ponds, for fear that their vehicles would not be able to pass through.
“The limited width of the road added with the condition made it difficult for the villagers to use a four wheel drive vehicle or pick-up truck to bring the heavy materials. In the end, it was hard for the villagers to maintain the road.
“With the dilapidated state of the bridge leading to the project site now, nobody even dares to pass the bridge with their vehicles,” highlighted Willy.
During Willy’s visit to the village in the weekend, a participant of the project by the name of Nyogien Pa Ruby told him that although sometime in 2003 during the opening ceremony of the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority’s (Salcra) Bau Palm Oil Mill, the government had promised funds for the repair of the farm road nothing had happened eversince.
Nyogien even said during the campaign in the last state election, a promise was made that the road would be repaired and rendered passable.
The promise also included repair to the bridge over Sg Tubah, he said.
“There was never any provision for the maintenance of the road. Because of that the villagers can’t derive any good from the ponds. At least there should be a solution in place to aid these villagers to mitigate their financial problem,” hoped Willy.
Also present at the press conference were state PKR secretary-general Stanny Embat Laja, Santubong branch chairman Ali Hossen and state information assistant William Lee.