Kota Kinabalu: Deputy chief minister Bung Moktar Radin says the RM5.2 billion development allocation given to Sabah is insufficient given the sheer size of the state and the various infrastructure it needs to improve.
Bung, who is also Sabah Umno chief, hoped the allocation would be increased by 10-15%.
“This is because there is an urgent necessity to develop water services, roads, bridges and electricity supply in rural areas,” he said in a statement here today.
Finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz had said in his budget speech yesterday that Sabah would receive an allocation of RM5.2 billion while Sarawak would get RM4.6 billion for the implementation of water, electricity and road infrastructure projects, as well as for education and health facilities.
Bung, who is also Kinabatangan MP, acknowledged that many projects could be realised through the funds allocated.
“I don’t deny the federal government has given priority to projects such as upgrading dilapidated schools, but there are other areas that need attention too,” he said.
Besides the RM5.2 billion development budget, the government has also allocated RM746 million to repair dilapidated schools in Sabah and Sarawak, with 112 projects earmarked in the state.
Bung, who is also state works minister, said the government must give serious attention towards efforts to complete the Pan Borneo Highway project.
He said the funds to construct the project should not be given on a package-by-package basis, adding it would take decades to complete the project.
Meanwhile, Sabah Pakatan Harapan chief Christina Liew said Putrajaya must honour its promise of implementing a mandatory gender quota for corporate boardroom positions and other benefits for Malaysian women and girls under Budget 2022.
“For more than a decade, there has been much talk in Malaysia about increasing women’s representation in boardrooms but to no avail.
“I am glad this time the gender quota is being legislated to ensure companies comply with the requirement.
“I know that many Sabahan women qualify to be appointed as boardroom directors but have not been given the chance even after they had completed training under the women directors’ programme,” she said in a statement here today.
Liew, however, said it was not clear what penalties would be imposed on companies failing to appoint women to their boards.
In Italy, for example, she said, some defaulting companies had been heavily fined by the authorities.
Tengku Zafrul yesterday announced that it would be compulsory for all major companies to have at least one female director on their board by September 2022. For all other listed companies, they have until January 2023 to toe the line.
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