“Bring RM2 Billion Road Repairs Not Just Visit - Jeffrey”

KOTA KINABALU - “The DPM is most welcome to visit Sabah anytime but he should bring along RM2 billion for the badly needed road repairs in Sabah when visiting officially” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief, when asked about the DPM’s 2-day visit starting Monday.

Recently, many reports have been said about the poor road conditions in various parts of Sabah and the lack of federal funding for these road repairs and maintenance.

The Sabah JKR Director had lamented that there was a backlog of RM2 billion that were urgently needed to carry out these repairs.

In addition, it appears that another RM700 million was needed to repair and replace 62 bridges on federal roads.  Yet, the federal government has only allocated a miniscule RM33 million, not even 5% of the required sum, for bridge repairs.

Such apathy, “tidak apa” and irresponsible attitude of the federal leaders in treating Sabah roads and bridges are no longer acceptable.

The condition of these roads and bridges are serious matters and the poor road conditions is a matter of life and death for the daily lives of Sabahans.

The federal leaders should pay serious attention to the funding of the road repairs and not just make empty promises when they are in the Borneo States and the promises are conveniently forgotten when they fly back to the Peninsula to their plush and cozy offices in Putrajaya, funded by Petronas with oil and gas moneys from Sabah and Sarawak.

“The empty promises are not a statement of the opposition but by Sarawak BN leaders who even wanted these promises to be in writing and implemented without delay” stressed Dr. Jeffrey.

The road repairs are only a small part of the road and bridges problem in Sabah.  Yet, it is ignored by the federal leaders until an amount of RM2 billion is accumulated for the past years.  RM2 billion is small change compared to the RM18 billion taken yearly by Petronas and the federal government from Sabah’s oil and gas.

Apart from road repairs, the federal government need to allocate urgent funds to seal roads in Sabah, some 6,000 km of roads under JKR Sabah and another 5,400 km under the jurisdiction of local authorities.

In Sabah, poor road repairs and bad road conditions are not just voiced by the opposition.  Sabah BN leaders including from Sabah Umno are beginning to voice their satisfaction over the road conditions in their own constituencies.

Recent statements calling for road repairs by the Kinabatangan Umno MP and Umno leaders in Libaran, the home district of the Chief Minister, shows the huge scale of Sabah road problems that have been covered up by the Sabah Umno/BN leaders and ignored by the federal leaders.

The Sabah Umno leaders are starting to realize that if they do not start looking after the interests and welfare of Sabahans, they will be booted out by the people.

Therefore, we urge the DPM not to come visiting Sabah empty handed but to bring at least a cheque for RM2 billion written payable to the Sabah government or the Sabah JKR.   If no such allocation is provided, it will show that the “Janji DiTepati” BN Manifesto is nothing but a hot air promise to fish for votes in the last general election.

The federal leaders should start awakening from their ignoring of Sabah road conditions and realize that their “fixed deposit” is no longer keeping quiet but have started to demand for their rightful allocations for road repairs and road construction.

The Umno/BN federal leaders and the DPM need to also realize that the MPs from Sabah and Sarawak are now “kingmakers” and can simply walk-out from and topple and change the ruling BN regime if the grievances of the Borneo States are continued to be ignored and marginalized.  At the same time, if the Sabah BN leaders do not start demanding for Sabah’s rightful allocations, they themselves will be toppled and changed by the people.