Adenan (third left) with Shafie (left), Jabu (front right) and others after chairing the first coordination committee meeting of 2015 with state Rural Exco chairmen. — Bernama photo

KUCHING: The Ministry of Rural and Regional Development plans to give an additional RM51 million grant to Sarawak this year for rural development projects. Its minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said the money was meant for constructing houses under the Hardcore Poor Housing Programme (PPRT) and longhouses across the state.

“We will submit the proposal to the Ministry of Finance for Sarawak to receive an additional grant of RM51 million, while Sabah will also be allocated an additional RM50 million grant.

“With the grant, almost 1,000 housing units costing RM50,000 each will be constructed, whereas for longhouses in Sarawak, it is subject to what needs to be upgraded,” he told a press conference after chairing the first coordination committee meeting of 2015 with state Rural Exco chairmen in the country at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Complex here yesterday.

In view of this, Shafie called on the state government to allocate suitable lands for the construction of PPRT houses as one of the main problems often faced by the target groups was not having lands to build houses.

“Whenever I’m on the ground, I’ve been informed by the community, including those who are under the e-Kasih programme, that they do not have lands to build their houses.

“As such, I’m calling for the cooperation of the state government so that the land issue can be rectified as soon as possible to ensure the PPRT projects for the poor in rural areas can be expedited.”

On state projects listed under Budget 2015, Shafie said the projects were running smoothly and his ministry was working closely with the Ministry of Rural Development to rectify issues that might crop up.

“In fact, several projects under my ministry that were categorised as ‘sick projects’, such as the project in Betong and Pulau Bruit, have since been settled,” he said, adding there were initially 15 per cent of ‘sick projects’, many of which were projects brought forward from last year.

“We are giving the contractors until August this year to solve all issues that arise. If they can’t solve them by then, their contracts will be terminated.”

Shafie said his ministry was looking to enhance its delivery system to ensure projects listed under the 11th Malaysia Plan would be implemented effectively and according to schedule.

“We must learn from our experience during the 10th Malaysia Plan. Soon, we will be dealing with the 11th Malaysia Plan, and what’s crucial for us is to emphasise on the aspect of the delivery system.”

Present at the press conference were Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Numpang, who is also Rural Development Minister, and Deputy Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi.