A road damaged by flood and landslide in Sabah.
KOTA KINABALU (Oct 4): The federal government needs to provide special allocation to Sabah to complete emergency works that require immediate action, especially those caused by natural disasters.
Kinabatangan Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Panglima Bung Moktar Radin said lately there had been a spate of natural disasters such as flood and fire occurring in Sabah which had resulted in damages to personal property and public infrastructure such as roads and bridges.
All these need immediate allocation for repairs to be carried out, he said when debating the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) in Dewan Rakyat on Monday.
“The repair work requires high costs and we need to apply to the relevant ministry or the Ministry of Finance for funding. The process however takes a long time and as a result the repair work will be delayed which will inevitably burden the people,” he said.
To this end, the Sabah Deputy Chief Minister proposed that the federal government prepare a special allocation for the state to pay for the high repair costs which the state government is unable to meet.
“Give a special allocation of RM300 million annually for emergency repair works so that the state government can speed up efforts to repair the damages caused by natural disasters,” he said.
Bung Moktar, who is also Sabah Works minister, repeated his call for the state government to be given autonomy to implement development projects in Sabah under the 12MP.
“Sabah gained its independence 58 years ago but development in the state is still lagging behind other states resulting in it being categorised as the poorest state in the country.
“This is because allocations for development programs are still from the federal government. It is an old method that is no longer relevant at this time,” he pointed out.
He also opined that all allocations from the federal government must be channeled to the state government for planning, implementation and monitoring.
According to Bung Moktar, the state government better understands the demography and needs of the people in Sabah and added that it will be able to ensure that all development projects under the 12MP will be implemented smoothly.