KUCHING: Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas has expressed his vision for Betong town to lead the nation in cleanliness while fostering economic growth through strategic initiatives.
He said that Betong is poised to be a more progressive, prosperous division in the years ahead through the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy ( PCDS) 2030 and the Betong Division Development Agency (BDDA) with their respective strategies and programmes affecting improved standard of living and better income.
The Minister of Infrastructure and Port Development added due to the inevitable environmental issues surfaced, ever increasing household and commercial waste generated, reliance on landfills to deal with the situation could take place.
“We can just rely on landfills to deal with this. So I am thinking of having incinerators in all big towns in the division. I will have a meeting shortly here on how to address this issue,” he was speaking at a gathering of civil servants from the Betong Division at Dewan Tan Sri Stephen Kalong Ningkan here last night (Feb 17).
Uggah, who is also Bukit Saban assemblyman, also called on civil servants in the division to continue to give their support, commitment, and co-operation to realise this vision.
Additionally, he said through the spirit of ‘Segulai Sejalai,’ the objective can be accomplished, adding that the people in the division are fortunate for its comprehensive infrastructure, including extensive road networks and nearly complete power and water supply coverage, as foundational elements for development.
“Now we want to complement the initiatives of its past leaders by developing economic programmes and activities to generate income. We already have high income earners here from among the oil palm and pepper planters.
“But we want to have more people to be high income earners by 2030 in line with the objectives of the PCDS 2030,” he said.
He added modern precision farming practices such as fertigation are being introduced to transform Betong into a regional food hub, with initiatives like agro parks and paddy projects in the pipeline.
“The Spaoh sub district has been earmarked for an annual double harvest paddy project,” he said.
He added that utilising Betong’s tourism potential is also on the agenda, with plans to develop a tourism master plan leveraging the region’s natural beauty, rich culture, and historical significance.
“We hope BDBA can come up with a tourism master plan within two years from now,” he said.
In this regard, Uggah said a sum of RM16 million had been set aside to construct a replica of Rentap’s fortress at Bukit Sadok.
On another issue, Uggah said he hoped the new haemodialysis centres for Spaoh, Kabong and Beladin would be ready by the end of this year.
“We have identified the sites and have allocated a sum of RM5 million each for their construction,” he said.
Among those present were Layar assemblyman Datuk Gerald Rentap Jabu, Saribas assemblyman Datuk Mohd Razi Sitam, Betong MP Dr Richard Rapu, Batang Lupar MP Mohd Shafizan Kepli, political secretary to Sarawak Premier Roseline Mapong and Betong resident Richard Micheal Abunawas.
