Abang Johari together with other senior GPS leaders performing a gimmick to launch the GPS Zone Two at Kampung Semeba today.
KUCHING: The Sarawak government has paid back RM350 million to Putrajaya, which is the first phase of the RM1-billion loan repayment, said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
Now that the Sarawak government has paid the first part of legal mechanisms as required by the federal government, Abang Johari hoped that the federal government will implement what they have promised that is to repair and rebuild dilapidated schools in the state.
“Now that the state government has paid the money to Putrajaya, I hope the federal government will implement what they have promised. If they do not, then they are liars,” he added.
In a recent statement by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, Lim said that the federal government was ready to disburse RM350 million to the Sarawak government to repair dilapidated schools in the state, but only after the latter paid back the same amount first.
Lim said the Sarawak government still owed Putrajaya RM2.352 billion as of June 30 this year, adding that the repayment of the RM1 billion would mean the debt to the federal government would stand at RM1.352 billion.
The federal government had agreed in principle to accept the RM1 billion loan payment by the Sarawak government for the repair of dilapidated schools in the state, subject to four legal mechanisms which were agreed to by both sides.
The legal mechanisms are that the Sarawak government must repay RM1 billion of its total debt into the federal government’s Consolidated Fund; the federal government will channel the same amount as repaid by the Sarawak government as an allocation for the use of the repair school in Sarawak; remedial works for schools in Sarawak should be offered through open tender; and the federal government will take into consideration the priority of the Sarawak government in determining the schools to be refurbished.