By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, March 18: The Additional Late Applicant Fund (ALAF) has received over 17,000 applications to date, with numbers expected to rise, says Minister of Utility and Telecommunication Sarawak Dato Sri Julaihi Narawi.
“The ministry plans to extend electricity supply to these new applicants through the ALAF initiative under the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP), with an estimated allocation of RM550 million,” he said in a Sarawak Public Communication Unit (UKAS) report.
He added that RM315 million has been allocated since 2018 for Phases 1 to 4, benefiting nearly 20,000 households.
Julahi said this in his speech at the Sarawak Energy Stakeholders Sungkei 2025 event held at a hotel here on March 17.
However, Julaihi noted that the issue currently being faced is the delay in implementing ALAF and urged Sarawak Energy to take appropriate action.
ALAF is a Projek Rakyat initiative by the Sarawak government in 2018 to help reduce the financial burden for eligible new rural homeowners needing electricity connection.
Meanwhile, he mentioned that his ministry is also working to strengthen the electricity supply infrastructure in rural areas to address the performance issues of power supply lines and meet future growth demands.
As an example, he cited the upgrading of the electricity supply in the Samarahan Division project, with a scheme value of RM150 million, involving the construction of a medium voltage covered conductor (MVCC) distribution line that will use covered conductor technology.
“The ministry, in collaboration with Sarawak Energy, has identified 33 other main lines that frequently experience power supply disruptions in rural areas of Sarawak and plans to replace these lines gradually using MVCC insulated technology,” he said. — DayakDaily
