KUCHING: In the last five years, Sarawak had enjoyed its autonomy as never before, which clearly reflected in the implementation of its own political, administrative and development agendas and policies which have benefited the people and state.
Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Deputy President Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said the Sarawak government has established five development agencies in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (RECODA) areas to speed up development progress.
The agencies, namely, the Highland Development Agency (HAD), Upper Rajang Development Agency (URDA), Northern Region Development Agency (NRDA), Integrated Regional Samarahan Development Agency (IRSDA) and Sri Aman Development Agency (SADA).
Meanwhile, each agency is allocated with a RM1.5 billion development fund.
Apart from that, various development projects such as the Second Trunk Road, which cost RM6 billion, coastal road (RM5 billion), Project Rakyat (RM7.8 billion) as well as RM2.8 billion for electricity supply and RM3.89 for water projects have been carried out in the last few years.
“When we announced these initiatives, the opposition quickly labelled them as ‘hot air’ or empty talk, however, all these have been implemented successfully.
“We are able to fulfil what we promised and accelerate the implementation of various development projects due to the resources we have, including the sales tax for crude oil and gas – which we have collected RM8.54 billion since 2019.
“Besides, we have alternative funding through Development Bank of Sarawak (DBOS) that have approved RM9.7 billion fund thus far,” he said.
The Deputy Premier was speaking at the opening of the PBB 15th Triennial General Meeting (TGM) at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here today.
Sarawak government, he said, was now focused to increase its revenue, through the passing of Forests (Amendment) Bill 2022, which will facilitate and enable Sarawak to participate in carbon trading and markets and develop and produce hydrogen as a new energy source.
Apart from that, the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) ruling coalition was planning to set up Sarawak’s own sovereign fund as well as selling electricity to Sabah and Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Uggah said another significant achievement for Sarawak was to restyle the title of Chief Minister to Premier of Sarawak, as to restore the status of Sarawak as one of the three regions with the Federation of Malaya and Sabah that formed Malaysia.
“It also shows that Sarawak cannot be considered as an ordinary state as other states in the Federation of Malaya, thus, the special status of Sarawak needs to be interpreted in a different way from other states,” he said.
