Govt allocates RM90 mln transportation subsidy for Sabah

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KUALA LUMPUR: The government has allocated RM90 million to subsidize the transportation cost of essential goods to rural and remote areas in Sabah under a price standardization programme.

Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Minister Dato’ Hamzah bin Zainudin said the price standardization programme covered 503 areas consisting of 5,139 points of sales (POS) and 159 appointed transporters in Sabah.

“It has benefited 1,042,547 people in rural and remote areas of the state,” Hamzah said during the Dewan Negara sitting here when replying to Senator Datuk Chin Su Phin’s question on when the issue of the higher prices of goods in Sabah could be resolved.

Chin had also wanted to know other mechanisms that could be implemented to overcome this matter besides resolving the Cabotage policy issue.

He said the essential items listed under this programme included ST15% rice, wheat flour, cooking oil, sugar, liquefied petroleum gas, RON95 petrol and diesel.

Hamzah said the programme included 1,416 distribution areas, which consisted of 10,631 POS and 326 transporters who received transportation subsidy amounting to RM210 million for peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak.

In addition, he explained that the higher prices of goods in Sabah and Sarawak compared to peninsular was determined by many factors, including freight charges, port costs and ground logistics costs.

“The cost pertaining to the Cabotage policy only involves shipping costs.”

He said the price standardization programme was introduced by the government to overcome issues pertaining to the price of goods in Sabah and Sarawak.

Under this programme, Hamzah said the government bore the transportation costs of appointed transporters who delivered essential goods to rural areas in efforts to ensure the people could obtain the items fixed at the same prices as Peninsular Malaysia by the government.

At the same time, Hamzah said the government had introduced the mobile Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M) initiative since 2013.

“Through this initiative, the government bears the logistics costs of delivering KRIM, 1Coop and Federal Agricultural and Marketing Authority (FAMA) goods from peninsular to KRIM outlets in Sabah and Sarawak.

“This initiative enables the standardization of prices of KRIM, 1Coop and FAMA goods nationwide.”