KUCHING: Sarawak needs another RM154 bln within the next 11 years to put in place the required infrastructure, utilities and facilities to realise its vision of becoming a high income and developed state in 2030, says the Chief Minister.
“We cannot depend entirely on the federal government for development funding in view of the current political scenario.
“Therefore, we really need to have enough funds to finance the development that we have planned for our state,” Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said in his winding-up speech at the DUN sitting yesterday.
“Over the past years, we were dependent on funding from the federal government and to-date, the federal government has approved an allocation of RM79 bln for development in the state. However, the approved allocation started to decline from the 10th Malaysia Plan onwards.
“Since taking over as Chief Minister and taking cognizance of the current level of development in the state, I have decided to implement several steps to increase state revenue and expand our development expenditure to support our development initiatives,” he said.
“The provision of state funding for development is on the rise and until today, we have approved an allocation of RM89 bln.
“This year alone, we have approved RM9.1 bln for development, the highest allocation in the state’s development budget history,” he stressed.
“I wish to inform that the returns from our investments, including from MLNG, are utilised to fund our development programmes and projects.
“To finance our massive infrastructure development, the state government needs to look for alternative sources of funding as this is one of the reasons why I have decided to impose the 5 percent sales tax on petroleum products for export starting this year, as a new source of revenue to the state.
“We have also established our own development bank, that is Development Bank of Sarawak (DBoS), to finance strategic infrastructure and utility projects, which will be done for the interest of the people and economic growth,” Abang Johari said.
