KOTA KINABALU – Sabah leaders are up in arms after spotting that RM100 has been allocated in Budget 2021 for road repairs in the state.
If true, RM100 is a far cry from the RM60 million the state got in this year’s national budget.
Sabah DAP secretary Chan Foong Hin said the state Works Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin should feel very ashamed of the federal government if indeed the RM100 allocation was not a typo.
“With such a tremendous cut in the Budget 2021, the Perikatan Nasional (PN) federal government has put the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government along with Bung, who is also deputy chief minister to shame,” he told The Vibes.
Chan, who is Kota Kinabalu MP, said Bung recently in Parliament raised the issue of whether the federal government would hand over to Sabah its portion of the Pan Borneo Highway project.
“If the regular allocation for road maintenance and upgrading is cut, how can we expect federal ministers to respect Bung’s wish to ask for devolution of power to fast track construction of Pan Borneo Highway?” said Chan.
Sabah also received a lower developmental budget of RM5.1 billion while the Budget 2021 barely mentioned the state’s revenue entitlement.
Putrajaya has slashed the state budget by RM100 million while Sabah was supposed to receive RM54 million for entitlement.
The entitlement for Sabah was doubled under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to RM53 million from RM26.7 million – a fixed payment made out to Sabah since 1974.
Payment of the entitlement is a constitutional requirement where Sabah is entitled to 40% of the revenue collected by Putrajaya from Sabah.
Chan said the lack of mention of the state’s special grant proves that Putrajaya has no political will to empower Sabah and honour its rights.
“PH government has increased Sabah’s special grant from RM26 million annually since 1974 to RM53 million in Budget 2020,” he said. – The Vibes, November 9, 2020
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