KUCHING: The 11th Malaysia Plan Mid-Term review is expected to be tabled in September this year and the Economics Affairs Minister stated that the review will “not only review the achievement under the 11th Malaysia Plan over the last 2 years but also to set new targets based on PH’s promises,” said DAP Serian branch chairman, Edward Andrew Luwak.
He said there are three Federal Government facilities that needed to be taken into account during the 11th MP mid-term review which were the Serian Hospital, Serian Secondary School No. 2 and Institut Latihan Perindustrian (ILP) project.
The Serian Hospital, said Edward, was built in the early 1970s when Serian town was a small town and the main town for Serian District. It was then serving a population of less than 100,000 and has not seen much improvement and extension in decades. It is congested and the facilities are poor. Each day the out-patient department and clinic are packed. There is no X-Ray machine at the hospital.
“The car park is always full especially during office hours and visiting hours. Many vehicles are parked at the main road verge. Today Serian is the headquarters of Serian Division and is the cross-road to northern Sarawak and Southern Sarawak. Serian is also the gateway to Kalimantan Indonesia.
“The hospital now serves a population of no fewer than 250,000 people from as far as Lachau and Pantu in the east as well as Simunjan area which is a neighbouring district. To its west, it serves the people as far as Siburan town. There are no fewer than 150 villages served by the hospital,” he added.
Secondly, Serian Secondary School No. 2 needs to be revisited and the project implemented during the mid-term review period.
The Serian Secondary School No. 2 was said to have been approved way back in 1996. The site of the project has been identified but in recent years the project was put on hold or aborted.
Edward added that the only Government Secondary School in Serian town was built in mid-1960s. It used to be the most populated Government Secondary School and housing the biggest number of boarders.
The school is now running a double session for its students as the school is seriously over enrolled for a single session.
The double session is believed to be one of the causes of the poorer academic performance as compared to some other schools which are in rural Serian.
The Education Minister needs to visit Serian to see the condition in the school, the boarding facilities and at the same time to visit the other secondary schools in Serian area.
Thirdly, the Institut Latihan Perindustrian (ILP) project was a pet-project of the previous BN Government. While the setting up of the ILP is a welcomed and appreciated move, the project needs to be reviewed due to several reasons.
In the first place, he said, the site for the project is not suitable. It is along the banks of the Sadong river and is low-lying, thus subject to flood water inundation. During the monsoon season most parts of the proposed site are under flood water of more than 10 feet. Dumping will be required and to have it done will inflate the cost of the project.
There is plenty of land on high ground available around Serian. Native land could be acquired for the purpose.
Acquisition of native land would provide double benefit, one to reduce cost of compensation while as the same time to give good values to native land owners.
The proposed site is located above stream of the Selabi water treatment plant. The raw water intake of the Selabi water treatment plant is said to be badly contaminated by oil palm plantations and agriculture activities in its catchment area.
The presence of the ILP at the proposed site would aggravate the water contamination.
The site is in within the Serian town extension area. Serian is expected to see accelerated development in the coming years. The proposed site will cause serious congestion to the Tangga By-Pass road and the new Serian Administrative Centre.
It is hoped that the PH Federal Government will look into the above matters and to take them on board during the 11th Malaysia Plan mid-term review.
