KUCHING: Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) veteran Datuk Peter Minos has questioned why Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) and its members are talking as if rural development can be done without having road accessibility.
Minos said without roads, the rural community would not have access to schools and clinics as well as other facilities.
“No road accessibly means, no modern development,” he told New Sarawak Tribune yesterday.
He said this is response to PSB member Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun’s statement that the RM6 billion allocated for the Second Trunk Road (STR) project should be used on other rural developments such as providing clean water, electricity, telephone services, internet connection, proper road access and healthcare facilities.
Minos said the STR was part of rural development, and if Sarawak had the money, then there was no problem for it to be implemented.
“Yes, we are going to have the Pan Borneo Highway and the coastal road, but Sarawak being huge and elongated, more roads are needed. It is not just for the rural development but also for other types of development such as tourism and economic purposes,” he stressed.
He added he too came from a rural area and he has been to many other rural areas in the state, and saw that especially in the interior ones, the people there lacked development because they were not accessible by roads.
“It is precisely because our rural areas lack good road networks that have resulted in the rural people lagging behind in many aspects,” he pointed out.
