KOTA KINABALU – Flood mitigation funds and aid will be the main highlights as the prime minister is expected to make a post-floods visit to two Sabah districts today.
Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is expected to arrive at Kota Kinabalu International Airport around noon, where he will be briefed on the disaster management efforts.
Next, he is expected to head to Kota Marudu, arriving around 1.30pm, and thereafter to Pitas at 3pm.
The excessive rainfall that hit Sabah before Christmas last year caused floods in six rural districts – Kota Marudu, Pitas, Paitan, Sandakan, Beluran, and Telupid.
The incident had also displaced over close to 4,000 people, who have been staying in six evacuation centres.
Kota Marudu, the constituency led by PBS president Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili, was the worst-hit, as the number of evacuees reached over 2,500 people, and authorities had to open 14 evacuation centres at one point.
Pitas saw over 300 evacuees.
The political circles and non-government organisations in Sabah are already anticipating that Ismail Sabri will announce cash aid for the flood victims, as many of these areas are poverty-stricken.
Warisan deputy president Datuk Darell Leiking has earlier said that the flood victims in Sabah are entitled to the same financial aid offered by the federal government to their peninsular counterparts, who were equally affected by the floods.
The Prime Minister’s Office said on December 31 and January 1 that there would be two tiers of aid for the flood victims in Malaysia.
Tier one provides RM10,000 cash aid and tier two, including the rebuilding of destroyed houses, up to RM61,000.
But instead of taking the challenge to Ismail Sabri, Leiking said this task is for the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) state government, which he said must fight for the flood victims in the state.
“The Kadazan Dusun Murut leaders in GRS must demand that the same tiers of packages prepared for the Peninsular Malaysian folks be made available for the people in Sabah too,” he said.
Two NGOs, Borneo’s Plight in Malaysia Foundation and the Gindol Initiative for Civil Society Borneo, also made the same call, saying the same amount of aid should be given to the flood victims in Sabah in view of the Keluarga Malaysia spirit.
“The Sabah government should pursue this matter with the federal government to fruition. There should be no more delay in giving the same financial aid to the victims in Sabah.
“In fact, we need more because the cost of rebuilding houses in Sabah is much higher than in Peninsular Malaysia,” said the two NGOs, in reference to the higher cost of construction materials in the state due to short supply.
The prices of construction materials like cement, steel bars, and PVC pipes have become at least 15% more expensive due to the pandemic.
The limited imports of such materials, due to the halting of the shipping industry by the Covid-19 pandemic, had pushed the prices of these materials higher.
On the flood mitigation works, Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan, who is also the minister in charge of the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID), said RM301 million is required to deal with the incessant floods in the two rural districts.
He said the estimation was provided by Sabah DID and would be used to execute the engineering work involved.
“Such work like building ridges, dredging, widening and upgrading the drains, and installing floodgates involve four main rivers in the two districts, namely the Bandau, Bongon, Tandek and Rasak rivers,” he said.
Kitingan also said a thorough study on the behaviour and conditions of local rivers should be made in order to come up with a prevention plan.
In a related development, another Sabah deputy chief minister has called on Putrajaya to hasten the funding for road repairs.
Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin has noted the monsoon rains have damaged many roads, especially in Telupid, and the state is in dire need of allocations for such repairs.
He said the federal government, especially the finance minister should hasten the approval of funding for Sabah, especially in regard to the Pan Borneo Highway, as its Sabah portion is greatly behind the Sarawak portion.
Noting that the Sarawak portion of the Pan Borneo Highway is now 80% complete, he said Sabah has 22 packages still incomplete, with packages costing around RM1 billion each.
He said with such an amount it would take over 20 years for the projects to be completed if the Finance Ministry only allocates RM1 billion each year.
“The state cabinet has agreed to re-establish the private finance initiative (PFI), which was abolished in 2020 when Pakatan Harapan was in power.
“Without the PFI, there will be no allocation to implement the 22 work packages for the Pan Borneo Highway. There’s only allocation for infrastructure development and that is about RM1 billion a year.
“Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz needs to be told. If he does not respect the rights of the people in Sabah, then there’s no need for him to visit Sabah.
“Tell Tengku Zafrul, the Economic Planning Unit, and Public Works Department to stop sleeping. More roads will be damaged now...it is the monsoon season in Sabah. If they don’t do it, then forget about their promises on the Malaysia Agreement 1963,” he said. – The Vibes, January 8, 2021
