Baru asks Masing to explain GPS funding for Sarawak-Sabah Link Road

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Baru Bian

KUCHING (April 19): Former Works Minister Baru Bian has asked Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing to clarify the extent of Sarawak’s funding for the Sarawak-Sabah Link Road (SSLR) and the exact stretch involved.

He said he was surprised to read Masing’s statement that the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government is funding the SSLR project because that is not what the current Works Minister, Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusoff, had announced in August 2020.

“If it is true, what has happened to the funds of more than RM900 million which I had reallocated to the SSLR project during my term as minister? Has it been diverted to another project in Sarawak or lost to a project in some other part of Malaysia?

“Funds that are meant for Sarawak should be spent to develop our infrastructure which is sorely inadequate if not lacking in many parts of Sarawak,” the Selangau Member of Parliament and Parti Sarawak Bersatu presidential council member said in a statement.

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He said that while it was the Sarawak government’s prerogative to fund the SSLR, he was puzzled as to the reason why it would do so if the allocation had already been given by the Federal government,” he said in a statement today.

Baru said the 425km SSLR is a two-phase project with the first phase from Lawas to Kampung Pa’ Berunut and the second phase, from Kampung Pa’ Berunut to Long Lama.

He said the first phase was expected to cost RM1.2 billion and the second phase around RM4 billion.

“Is the Sarawak government going to fund both phases or one phase or a fraction of a phase?,” he asked.

He said he recalled that the chief minister had announced in November last year that as part of the state’s development expenditure in the 2021 budget, RM430mil would be set aside for the construction of the Limbang-Lawas Road but this was not the SSLR.

In order to avoid any confusion, Baru hoped Masing would enlighten Sarawakians as to exactly which road the GPS government is going to fund.

At the same time, he also sought clarification from the current Works Minister on the matter.

He said when he left the Ministry, plans had been put in place to build the SSLR with the approved allocation.

“I had in fact launched the project in November 2019 at Long Sebangang. The current Works Minister had confirmed in August 2020 that the project would be going ahead.

“If the PN Federal government and the state PN/GPS government has come to some alternative arrangements, they should be transparent about it and share the details with us,” he said, referring to the Perikatan Nasional pact.

Baru also asked why there was a delay in the construction of the first phase of the SSLR because when he was the minister, it was scheduled to commence in April or May 2020.

“Our rural people have been waiting for 50 over years for this road to materialise and we want some clarifications and answers,” said Baru, who was the Works Minister under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government which collapsed in February last year.

Masing had told news portal, Malay Mail, yesterday that the GPS government was using its own funds to construct the SSLR project that was approved by the previous PH federal government.

“The alignment, however, is slightly different from what was proposed by the PH government because we want to cater for both rural and urban development,” he said in response to Baru’s statement earlier.

“Regardless of who is the government, continuity in development must be pursued, otherwise no foreign governments or investors will make any deal with us, if there is no continuity in Malaysia’s development plans,” Masing said.

Baru had said that the RM900 million allocation for three bridges, which was cancelled, was diverted to the SSLR project and not to fund projects in other states.