Awg Tengah: More federal funds needed to boost connectivity in border regions

MIRI (Aug 27): The federal government should allocate adequate funds to upgrade road infrastructure in areas bordering Indonesia’s Kalimantan and Brunei, said Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan.

The Deputy Premier said this is crucial in boosting the economy and tourism in these areas neighbouring Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara.

“The closest to Nusantara are Kapit and Lawas, which need fresh impetus of development to safeguard the image of Malaysia.

“We are ashamed when over the other side they have smooth roads but on our side, as the late Tok Nan (late chief minister Pehin Sri Adenan Satem) would say, an hour on the road will cause serious bad pain,” he said.

He was speaking at a dinner to welcome a delegation led by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul, who was on a visit to Lawas last Saturday.

Awang Tengah also called on Putrajaya to fulfil its pledge to build a Mara Junior Science College (MRSM) in Lawas to meet the demand for vocational skills training in northern Sarawak.

He pointed out that the Sarawak government had already allocated the land and Lawas MP Datuk Henry Sum Agong had already secured the allocation when he was Deputy Rural and Regional Development Minister, but that until now, there were no signs of this project getting off the ground.

This has disappointed the people, especially as the Lawas Centre for Technological Excellence Sarawak project approved by the state government is now almost completed, he added.