KOTA KINABALU: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Jospeh Pairin Kitingan wants more focus to be given for addressing the needs of the people in rural areas in Sabah under the soon-to-be tabled National Budget 2016.

The Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president said bringing more development to the rural people was vital to improve their socio-economy, adding that no communities should be left out in the country’s effort to strive to achieve a developed nation status.

“The agriculture and plantation sectors are among the main industries of the rural communities.

“I hope the government can provide ample allocations to develop such industries for which the rural people are dependent on,” he said this to reporters when met after officiating at the launch of the new Shell 60/70 Grade Bitumen here, yesterday.

Pairin, who is also Infrastructure Development Minister, added that educational development in Sabah’s rural areas too must be given priority.

He stressed that the country’s development effort would not succeed without sufficient skilled and knowledgeable workers and the rural youth from Sabah must not be sidelined in human capital development programmes.

“We will follow up on education development programmes for which implementation has been approved for Sabah. This is to ensure that necessary allocations are provided for them and the projects can be implemented successfully,” he said.