Sabah needs grant, not loan

KOTA KINABALU, June 18, 2012: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has questioned the reason for not allocating funds to the state government to improve the water supply in the interior of Sabah instead of a loan.

Melanie Chia, the Women Chief of SAPP said if the state government was in a strong financial position it should not require a loan from the federal government.

"If Sabah's financial position is sound and glorious, why does Sabah need to be given a loan to do basic infrastructure like water supply?" she asked when commenting on the announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, in Keningau on Saturday.

He had announced the approval of a RM235 million loan to Sabah for the construction of a new water treatment plant and upgrading of water pipes in Keningau area to address the water problem in the interior.

She contended that the federal government should allocate the funds to the state government, instead of lending it because the former "had taken so much from Sabah".

Chia, who is also the Luyang assemblywoman said she was even more upset to read that the Prime Minister had to approve the loan because Deputy Chief Minister, Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan who is also the MP for Keningau had for the past months been repeatedly asking him about the matter.

She recalled that at the State Assembly sitting in 2010, she had asked Pairin who is also the Minister of Infrastructure Development, on the government's plan to improve the water supply in the Bingkor and Keningau areas following the government's announcement to do so in 2007.

"The answer I received from the government then was that the Keningau Water Supply Project was already approved under the Ninth Malaysia Plan with an allocation of RM10 million from the federal government to conduct a feasibility study and detailed design which was expected to be completed in May 2010 and construction work proposed to start in early 2011. The implementation of this project was expected to take 24 months at a total cost of RM210 million," she said.

She was surprised that Pairin had to repeatedly begging the Prime Minister to give the state government a loan of RM235 million.