Rural roads in Sarawak are still in a dire situation despite millions earmarked for their repair and upgrade, said PAS.

"Even though RM980 million was allocated in the 2014 budget to refurbish and upgrade the more than 437 kilometres of rural road networks in Malaysia, roads in Sarawak is still in a bad shape," said Sarawak PAS deputy commissioner Jofri Jaraiee.

He said that a total of RM4.5 billion have been allocated by the Finance Ministry for the upgrade of rural areas in the 2015 Budget, where almost a quarter is to be spent in East Malaysia.

Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak, in unveiling the 2015 Budget on Oct 10, has allocated RM943 million to construct 635km of rural roads, including former logging roads in Sabah and Sarawak.

"But where have the past provisions gone to?

"Up to now, it has not shown any sort of satisfactory results, especially in Sarawak," the Miri PAS chief said in a statement today.

The 2015 Budget allocations showed that the government was committed to upgrading rural facilities and infrastructure.

"With an allocation of RM26 million for the installation of street light poles in rural villages across the country, more than 22,000 villages will have an additional 10 light poles in their area," he said.

Jofri also said the relevant parties must take responsibility for the refurbishment and the upgrade of the roads and drainage systems in rural areas.

"We urge the government to fully utilise the provisions so that the problems the villagers are facing can be overcome as soon as possible," he said.

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