A man walks past television screens broadcasting the Budget 2022 being tabled in Parliament yesterday. — Malay Mail photo
MIRI (Oct 30): Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau hails the allocation of RM209 million for subsidy meant for air transportation over the rural areas of Sabah and Sarawak, as announced in Budget 2022, as not only benefitting the rural populace, but also boosting the tourism potential there.
“It will also help boost tourism in our rural areas such as Bario, Long San and so on.
“Without this subsidy, many rural folk could not afford to fly. If only one of two people could afford flight service, there might not be any more service as the airlines would not make money. So I fully support this subsidy.
“With this subsidy, outsiders can also come and visit the rural areas where we have many beautiful natural attractions. This will also boost the economy of our rural folk,” he said when contacted last night.
Dennis was also happy that under Budget 2022, RM1.5 billion had been set aside for development of rural infrastructure in Sabah and Sarawak and in this regard, he hoped that it would include construction of new roads.
“It must also be used to construct new roads in our rural areas, and not only to repair or upgrade the existing ones.
“If only used to upgrade existing ones, this would be unfair to people in these areas, who have long been waiting for proper roads,” he said in response to the tabling of the national budget yesterday.
He added that those in Baram remote pockets who did not own any four-wheel-drive (4WD) vehicles, had to fork up between RM80 and RM150 to charter a unit just to get to the nearest town or to come down to Miri.
“This price (RM80 to RM150) is just for one way,” he pointed out.
“Still, they have no choice, especially when they need to travel due to emergency.
“If there’s a proper tar-sealed road, they could easily travel on board any saloon car or even a ‘Kancil’ (compact car). Not everyone could afford a 4WD, especially those in the rural areas.”
Adding on, Dennis said the budget allocation would ‘definitely complement what the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS)-led government is currently doing for the rural areas’.
“Our Chief Minister has also allocated RM1.5 billion for rural roads, and this is still not enough,” he said.
Touching on the allocation of RM274 million to improve the living condition of the Orang Asli community, Dennis hope that the fund would also cover the Penans in Sarawak.
“Please include the Penans in this social initiative. Many of them in the rural areas are also in need of financial support.”
On the RM200-million subsidy for transportation of essential needs to the rural areas, Dennis hoped that the implementation could involve the local community leaders as well as assemblymen of the respective areas.
“Even though transportation for bringing the goods into the rural areas is being subsidised by the government, there are still certain parties that take advantage of this.
“They would tell the villagers that only a certain number of goods had been brought in under the subsidised transportation; hence, only a small number of the goods would have the same prices as those in the urban areas. They (certain quarters) would then mark up the prices of the rest of the goods, saying that their transportation (costs) were not included in the subsidy.
“I know this is happening in our rural areas, but because we are not involved in the implementation, so we cannot verify it,” he said, adding that if the assemblymen were involved in the implementation, they could make sure that the subsidy would be observed accordingly.
In this respect, Dennis expressed hope for the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) could set up an a body, tasked with strictly monitoring the adherence to upholding the subsidies on items meant for the rural areas, which should include regular spot-checks on the traders and transporters.
Overall, Dennis was ‘pleasantly surprised’ that despite the country’s current economic situation, which had been adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the federal government was still able to table a ‘beautiful budget’ for next year.
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