KOTA KINABALU: STAR Sabah chief Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan has questioned the lack of allocations for the repair of roads and slopes in Sabah and Sarawak that were damaged by floods.
“The federal Works Minister and Public Works Department should be commended for speedily inspecting, finalizing and approving the estimated costs of repairs of recent flood damaged roads and slopes in Terengganu, Pahang and Johor of RM56.9 million but there is no mention of any allocations for Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.
Jeffrey said the people of Sabah and Sarawak would have expected that with the Works Minister from Sarawak, more priority would have been given to the two states.
“Even without the damage from the recent floods, Sabah has been crying out for the RM920 million needed since 2009 for 647 road slopes failures, and as of September 2013, RM2 billion backlog for road repairs and another RM700 million for repairs and upgrading of 62 bridges.
“Now that road damage and landslides caused by the recent floods cutting off traffic in Sabah and Sarawak are in the news again, one would have expected a different and more positive response from the federal government,” he said in a statement yesterday.
“Perhaps, it is time for the federal Works Minister to review the needs of the Borneo states and allocate the necessary federal funds for Sabah and Sarawak. There can be no excuse for not allocating these funds since they have been readily and speedily approved for Terengganu, Pahang and Johor within a month,” he added.