KUCHING, Sept 5: Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) urges Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg to look into the development of infrastructure in Song district, Kapit.
Party president Munan Laja said the area and its people are in need of roads, and one of them is a road from Nanga Banjor to Ulu Katibas.
The current road from Song bazaar only reaches up to Nanga Banjor, Sungai Katibas.
“We urge the government to build this Nanga Banjor road to Ulu Katibas (approximately 30km) to connect 30 longhouses, five primary schools and three medical clinics there,” Munan said in a statement yesterday.
Without a complete road, Munan added, there is no way the people in Kapit can carry out agricultural and economic activities on a wider scale.
“For many years, our current elected representative Datuk Ambrose Blikau Enturan (Katibas assemblyman) has been fighting so hard for this road. We know about it, because we’ve read it in the DUN hansard. I also plead for the government to make a thorough study on all the roads in Katibas and along its tributaries.
“There are more or less 160 longhouses in this district with a population of 23,400 that badly need roads and other basic infrastructure,” Munan said.
Despite it being 55 years since Malaysia was formed, Kapit division is still an isolated area, cut off from the rest of the state because of lack of roads.
The absence of a road network is pushing prices of goods high as they have to be transported by boats, thus posing a great burden to the people living in the rural constituency.
Failure to addres this, Munan added, would make the people in the area feel they are being sidelined by the government. — DayakDaily
