The Sarawak government under the leadership of Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg is committed to transform vast rural areas in line with the goal to achieve a developed state by 2030.
The state’s sixth chief minister, who is celebrating his third anniversary in office on Jan 13 this year, aspires to see the rural areas develop as rapidly as the urban areas.
He takes a special interest in the development of the rural areas because he wants to ensure that no one, particularly those residing in the rural areas, is left behind in his development agenda.
Towards this end, Abang Johari has come up with various initiatives aimed at not only facilitating but more importantly, expediting the rural transformation process since he took over the helm of the state government on Jan 13, 2017.
His seriousness in transforming the rural areas is clearly reflected in the Sarawak 2020 Budget tabled at the State Legislative Assembly sitting in November last year.
He set aside a whopping RM4.141 billion for rural development expenditure alone for this year. The figure accounts for 63 percent of the total RM6.597 billion allocated for development expenditure under the Sarawak Budget. The allocation is a record in Sarawak’s history.
Some of the initiatives to expedite rural development include the construction of the state’s second trunk road estimated to cost RM1.526 billion and the construction of coastal roads (RM1.173 billion).
The roads will not only improve communication but also open up new areas for development particularly in the rural areas.
The state government has also set aside RM500 million for people’s projects, RM500 million for rural transformation projects (RTP), RM343 million for projects under the Samarahan Region Integrated Development Agency (IRSDA), RM1.148 billion for projects under the Regional Corridor of Development Agency (Recoda) and RM236 million for minor rural projects (MRP).
In addition, RM2.37 billion was allocated for the supply of electricity projects; RM2.8 billion to improve the current piping system and for upgrading work to ensure 100 percent coverage of treated water supply to every household in water-stressed areas under the Sarawak Water Supply Grid programme and RM1 billion for the construction of rural telecommunication infrastructures.
