Lo: Chong ignorant of Marris allocation

KUCHING: Batu Kitang assemblyman Lo Khere Chiang has blasted Kota Sentosa assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen for being so ignorant about the federal government’s Malaysia Road Record Information System (Marris) allocation.

Lo, a three-term elected representative, said Chong did not understand that Padawan Municipal Council (PMC) had to maintain more than 1,500km of roads in its jurisdiction.

“To tar seal 1km of road with 4-inch premix requires RM200,000. We only received RM27,500 per km Marris’ allocation from the federal government. I want to know how we can maintain 1,500km of roads with only RM27,500 per km,” Lo said in a statement received here yesterday.

Lo, who is also PMC chairman, said Chong was saying there is a RM600 million fund under Marris with the Public Works Department (JKR), which the council could use to maintain roads under its jurisdiction.

He said the actual figure received for 2018 was RM516,728,540 for the maintainance of all state roads totalling 13,880km.

Hence, if RM516,718,540 is divided by 13,880km (of state roads), it means RM37,228.28 per km, which is way below the RM200,000 needed to tar seal a km of road.

“No wonder there is not enough money to repair roads due to erosion and embankment failures along Jalan Puncak Borneo, Jalan Kampung Karu and many more.

“What a laughing stock the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government must appear to everyone when the Works Minister even sugested that this meagre fund could be used to maintain federal roads as well,” he said

Lo added that the federal government was supposed to review the road grants to Sarawak once every few years. That seemed to be not the case now. The prices of goods have gone up while the nation’s economy is getting from bad to worse.

He said while the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government did not review the Marris allocation, the PH government not only did not review it (allocation) but it is also cutting development grants for the community hall and hawker centre in Kpg Haji Baki.

“We (PMC) do not have enough funds to develop areas in our jurisdiction, which is bigger than Penang. Nothing has been coming back to Sarawak in terms of tourism tax, 50 per cent income tax revenue, and 20 per cent oil royalty,” he added.

POSTED ON MAY 24, 2019, FRIDAY AT 12:03 AM
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