By Ling Hui
KUCHING, Nov 9: The 2021 State Budget will remain a development biased budget with its focus mainly on rural development.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said the Sarawak government will continue to focus on rural-based projects to minimise the development gap between urban and rural areas.
“The 2021 State Budget will continue to be a development biased budget, which focuses on people-centric projects aiming at accelerating economic activities of which, RM6.304 billion or 62 per cent of the State Budget will be allocated for development expenditure.
“The state will continue to hasten development in rural areas in order to bridge the development gap between urban and rural areas.
“For this purpose, a sum of RM4.251 billion or 67 per cent of the total development expenditure will be set aside for the implementation of programmes and projects in rural areas, while the remaining RM2.053 billion or 33 per cent is for urban areas,” he stated when tabling the Supply (2021) Bill, 2020 at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting here earlier today.
Among the highlighted projects under State Alternative Funding Initiatives are the RM1.687 billion worth of projects under Regional Corridor Development Authority (Recoda), RM1.152 billion Coastal Road Network, RM792 million in projects under Integrated Regional Samarahan Development Agency (Irsda) and RM494 million Second Trunk Road.
Abang Johari noted these took aim at improving the people’s standards of living which would in turn boost the state’s economy.
“The implementation of all these projects would enable the rakyat to enjoy better public amenities and infrastructure that would ultimately help to improve their standard of living.
“Furthermore, these projects create multiplier effects on the local economy, generating thousands of job opportunities for the local folks, and boosting the construction and services sectors,” he added. — DayakDaily
