STAR Sabah has slammed the federal government for scaling down the much-needed Pan Borneo Highway from the original RM27 billion to RM14.5 billion.

 

Its chief Jeffrey Kitingan said today the scaled down amount is “a letdown” and “not acceptable”.

He said it indicates the double standard applied by the federal government with regard to development projects between peninsular and Borneo states.

 

Last week, Works Minister Fadillah Yusof ( right ) gave an update of the 2,000km highway project, stating that 95 overtaking lanes will be built in Sarawak beginning March at the estimated cost of RM14.5 billion.

 

Fadillah had said of the 95 overtaking lanes, the federal government would bear the cost of 45 of them, while the rest would be implemented through a merger between the government and the private sectors.

 

“The clarification by the federal Works Minister Fadillah Yusof, who hails from Sarawak, that only 95 overtaking lanes will be built for the Pan Borneo Highway now scheduled for completion in 2022 at the estimated costs of RM14.5 billion is not acceptable,” said Kitingan.

 

The project which was expected to be completed by 2022 at an estimated cost of RM14.5 billion, would be financed by mostly private parties, the minister added.

 

Issues related to construction of the highway in Sabah, said Fadillah, had yet to be finalised as the government was negotiating with the concessionaires.

 

On the construction of 22 more overtaking lanes along the Pan Borneo Highway, he said it would be implemented by incorporating the new method and the conventional method.

 

‘Still no complete dual carriageway in Borneo’

 

Responding to Fadillah’s statement, Kitingan who is the Bingkor state assemblyperson, interpreted the minister’s statement to mean that the full Pan Borneo Highway, originally budgeted at RM27 billion and scheduled for completion in 2025, would be replaced by a scaled-down version costing RM14.5 billion.   

 

“It also means that come 2022, a lengthy 59 years after the formation of Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak will still not have a complete dual carriageway, only roads with overtaking lanes.  

 

“If the federal government and the federal leaders think that this standard of road infrastructure is an acceptable level of development for Sabah and Sarawak in 2022, they should have their heads examined,” he said in a statement.

 

It also meant that the budget of RM14.5 billion to be spent over eight years on the Pan Borneo Highway only amounted to RM1.81 billion a year.

 

Kitingan ( left ) said: “What a big letdown, in so far as the promised development for Sabah and Sarawak for agreeing to form Malaysia.

 

“To rub salt into the wound, a glance at Budget 2015 will show that RM50.5 billion is earmarked for development expenditure. 

 

“Of this sum, RM16.1 billion will be spent on four highway projects and RM32 billion for two new MRT lines, all in Malaya. That RM16.1 billion alone for 2015 is bigger than the Pan Borneo Highway budget over eight years,” he said.

 

Revenue from Borneo states

 

He lamented that billions of ringgit get siphoned from Sabah and Sarawak, with Sarawak contributing more than RM55 billion annually in oil and gas revenue to Petronas and the federal government ,while Sabah contributed RM28 billion yearly.

 

International oil companies operating in Sabah and Sarawak also contributed billions of ringgit in taxes to the federal government, he added.

 

Billions more were collected as federal income tax from Sabah and Sarawak, he said, pointing out that starting April 1 , Sabah and Sarawak consumers would be paying their share of the 6 percent GST.   

 

He said that Sabah was the world’s third biggest palm oil producer in the world, after Indonesia and Malaysia (minus Sabah) contributing about 35 percent of Malaysia’s palm oil revenue of RM73 billion a year.

 

“Forty percent of the net revenue derived from Sabah and Sarawak are supposed to be returned respectively under the 10th Schedule of the Federal Constitution but not a single sen is returned,” he said.

  

Kitingan said that the insincerity of the Prime Minister and the federal government in not allocating and prioritising the Pan Borneo Highway and other road construction only reinforced the fact that the federal government treated Sabah and Sarawak as ‘colonies’ and did not bother about the promises of development given at the formation of Malaysia.

 

“Why the double standards with regards to development in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said, and called Sabah and Sarawak BN leaders to speak up and tell the federal government to re-assess its development priorities for Malaysia and in particular for Sabah and Sarawak. 

 

What had happened for the past 10 Malaysian Plans must change if Malaysia was to survive for the next 50 years, said Kitingan.