Development of Sibu’s SME industrial park potentially held back

0

Dr Gregory Hii Sui Cheng

SIBU: The infrastructure development for Sibu’s small-medium enterprise (SME) Industrial Park may be held back due to lack of federal funding.

In expressing this disappointment, Sibu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI) president Dr Gregory Hii Sui Cheng hopes the matter will be resolved soonest by relevant authorities.

He said this is because Sibu needs more industrial land to meet the growing needs of local entrepreneurs to further develop Sarawak’s central region.

“The funding is essential to get the land ready for use by parties which need them,” he said in a statement here today, commenting on Budget 2019.

Hii observed that the national and state budgets were tabled recently in parliament and State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting.

On this, he pointed out that the biggest difference is in their sizes with the state budget at about RM12 billion, while national budget at RM314.6 billion.

Adding on, he noted the other significant differences is in their development and operating expenditures expressed in percentages.

“The Sarawak state budget allocates about 75 per cent to development expenditures with about 24 per cent reserved for operating expenditures.

“However, at the national level, more than 80 per cent of the budget is allocated for operating expenditures and only about 20 per cent for development,” he commented.

“It is in this area, I think the federal government should work harder to address so that the imbalance can be progressively reduced through more efficient public service and effective cost control.”

He said so far, as tackling corruption is concerned, it is noted that federal government has already achieved some success, though eliminating it altogether, remains a pipe dream.

“Therefore, congratulation goes to the Sarawak state government for its development biased allocation. What is saved in operating expenditures means more money is available for development.

“It should definitely benefit more people and thus contributing towards our effort of achieving a ‘developed status’ for Sarawak,” added Hii.