THE RM500 million set aside for the construction of rural roads and RM300 million for the provision of clean water supply in Sabah and Sarawak is good, but it’s not enough, Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister James Masing said.

“We need to ask for more in (the) years to come,” Masing, who is also the state’s Infrastructure Development and Transportation Minister, said in reaction to the Budget 2018 which was tabled today.

Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that RM500 million was set aside for the roads and RM300 million to provide clean water supply to 3,000 homes in rural Sabah and Sarawak.

Budget 2018 also allocates funds to build an access road to the Baleh hydroelectric dam in Masing’s constituency in rural Kapit division.

Masing said the budget that was tabled today had “taught him a lesson” on how to bid for money.

He said unless Sarawak planned and proposed the infrastructure it wished to have, “we will not get any funds from Putrajaya for our roads and bridges”.

He noted that RM5 billion was allocated to the west coast highway from Banting, Selangor to Taiping, Perak, which was under construction.

He said the state in the next few years “must plan for its infrastructure development”.

Of special interest to him are the proposed coastal and second expressways which are projected to cost RM5billion .

“If we don’t have roads or highways planned, how can we bid for funds as they do in Peninsular Malaysia?”

While Barisan Nasional backbenchers in the state legislative assembly had frequently appealed to Putrajaya for money for the proposed coastal road and second expressway, Masing said the state had yet to bid for an allocation.

“We are just doing our pre-engineering survey.

“Once the cost is known, then we will make the bid.”

On the RM1 billion to repair dilapidated schools in Sarawak, Masing it showed that Putrajaya “through Najib is finally listening” to Sarawak’s demand for quality education.

Singing praises of the prime minister, Masing said until Najib became prime minister, “Sarawak education had been sidelined”.

To repair the estimated 2,000 dilapidated schools nationwide, the government is providing RM2.5 billion over a period of two years, of which RM500 million will go to schools in Peninsular Malaysia and RM1 billion each for schools in Sabah and Sarawak.

On the RM30 million for the surveying of native customary rights (NCR) land, Masing said it showed “Putrajaya is still sensitive to our needs to have NCR land surveyed and owned by rightful owners”. – October 27, 2017.