Baru (left) is given a traditional welcome at Sibu Airport. On his left is Abdul Raafidin.
SELANGAU: The federal government will strive to bring development to the people in the country despite facing financial constrains, said Works Minister Baru Bian.
Baru, who is also Selangau MP, said this would be undertaken by giving priority to practical, critical and urgent development as well as by providing direct benefits to the people,
“We will try our best as a new government to bring various development for the well-being of the people and, as such, we will prioritise development that will be implemented to the people,” he said when visiting the Rumah Nyawin Anak Judy in Tamin near here yesterday.
As an example, he said development like clean water supply, construction of schools, clinics and roads that brought direct impact to the people such as in Sarawak would still be implemented.
He also explained to the longhouse residents present that not all roads in the country were under the jurisdiction of his ministry which was responsible for only 1,000 km out of the 36,000 km of roads in Sarawak.
“The rest is under the purview of the state government or the Rural Development Ministry,” he said, adding that his ministry was ready to work with the Rural Development Ministry and Sarawak government in providing rural amenities like village roads in the interior of the state.
Earlier when met by reporters at the Sibu Airport upon arrival from Kuala Lumpur, Baru expressed his gratitude in having the opportunity to inspect the progress of the Pan Borneo Highway project construction.
He said the highway construction work in Sarawak did not face any delays while in Sabah there were delays of between one to 36 per cent in certain sectors.
“Based on the information I received, the Pan Borneo (implementation) project on the Sarawak side is on schedule. Up till May 25, the percentage of completion exceeded 22 per cent, which is two per cent ahead of schedule,” he said. — Bernama