RM12 mln set aside for ALAF programme 

 November 10, 2018, Saturday

KUCHING: The government has set aside RM12 million for Additional or Late Applicant Funds (ALAF) programme next year.

The programme, which was launched early this year, is used to equip rural areas with power supply in tandem with Sarawak’s target to achieve 100 per cent electricity coverage by 2025.

Assistant Minister of Rural Electricity Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi told the august House yesterday that the Ministry of Utilities had received a total of 4,000 applications until last month.

According to him, the Sarawak government has allocated RM80 million for the implementation of the ALAF programme.

Dr Abdul Rahman said the ALAF programme is meant for rural folk who have been left out of the Rural Electrification Scheme (RES) as well as those who missed out on the scheme.

For instance, if a certain area submitted 400 applications and the government could only implement 350 of them, the remaining 50 are considered being left out.

“There are many factors why the 50 applicants could not benefit from the scheme. It is not deliberate that the government left them out.

“There are also cases where villagers built new houses only after the RES was implemented. These are considered late applicants,” he said in replying to a supplementary question from Lo Khere Chiang (SUPP-Batu Kitang).

With the ALAF programme, Dr Abdul Rahman expressed confidence that Sarawak could achieve its target of 100 per cent electricity coverage in the next seven years.

ALAF is generally for Light Tension (LT) supply lines and service lines to the houses.

He said all the villagers had to do was submit their names to their respective village head, who would then give the list to the respective district offices.

The DOs would then forward the list to the Ministry of Utilites for their action.

“ALAF is an on-going programme until full electricity coverage is achieved in Sarawak.”

Earlier, Dr Abdul Rahman said about 75 per cent of the questions submitted to the ministry this sitting were about electricity supply.

He said the 100 applications for RES from the Batu Kitang constituency would see its implementation in the next two years, at estimated cost of RM2 million.

He added that those applications from Kpg Betong, Kpg Landeh and Kpg Sebuah in the constituency would be included in the ALAF programme.