By : BOBBY YEE
KOTA KINABALU: When praise is forthcoming, then such should be accorded with sincerity, notwithstanding the fact that it is the opposition who sang praises for the government.
Or more appropriately, Deputy Minister of Works, Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin, who got into the good books of Likas Assemblyman, Junz Wong for her speedy action on the Kg Timpoluon landslide near Penampang.
It was a rare show of support to the Government but it cannot be denied that Rosnah was among the early ones to react to the May 31 incident and got the Public Works Department moving despite being a long holiday.
The landslide occurred due to a variety of reasons – but surely the person responsible for creating a man-made lake in the vicinity, as well as doing unmitigated hill-cutting, must be investigated.
The early morning landslide damaged almost a whole section of the Penampang-Tambunan road, damaged one house and put several others in danger.
Rosnah had on Saturday said investigations would be carried out into the occurrence of the landslide before action could be taken on the culprits.
She said the matter will be looked into, stressing, “let it be investigated first and once there is a report, action will be taken”.
Residents living in the area have fingered a businessman who has been identified as having a bird-rearing business, and the wanton hill-cutting project nearby.
Wong said that everyone involved in activities in the area – landowners and business people involved – so that the road project when it also included so that a thorough investigation can be carried out to find out accurately the real cause of the incident.
“Action must certainly be taken against parties who are found responsible for this incident so as to serve as a lesson to other developers.
“Even the authorities who gave approvals must be checked for their negligence in not monitoring what was going on.
“We are very lucky that there was no unfortunate casualty when the incident occurred. It must not happen again,” he said.
Wong added that the Federal Works Ministry and Public Works Department (PWD) should also probe on all parties/authorities involved in hill-cutting project nearby.
He said the Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QAQC) department including consultants and engineers should also be investigated.
“It is common practice that QAQC engineers will have to ensure that project quality requirements are met before completion certificates are issued for periodical payments,” he said. (BI)
The authorities should pay attention to this.
ReplyDeleteA major milestone will be reached in the continuing advancement of the country's palm oil industry as six major oil palm players sign up in a first-of-its-kind joint-venture biomass cluster in Lahad Datu, Sabah.
ReplyDeleteThe signing, to be held on June 10, would include big names like the Bell Group, which is involved in the trading of crude palm oil, palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake, Genting Bhd as well as plantation-based Teck Guan Group.
ReplyDeleteDatuk Dr Pang Teck Wai, the Chief Executive Officer of POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd, said the signing was a major breakthrough in bringing together owners and consumers of oil palm biomass, a sector in which the Malaysia Palm Oil Board (MPOB) estimates to be worth RM80 billion.
ReplyDelete"For the past few years we (government and private sector) were sort of stuck in an impasse...We have a lot of biomass but there was no price mechanism, no precedence to follow and a lack of mutual trust between suppliers and potential buyers."
ReplyDeletePang said the main hurdle to biomass manufacturing was availability of oil palm mills willing to commit to long-term supply and potential buyers quoting widely different prices based on their different uses.
ReplyDelete"The AIM-initiated JV Cluster brings together companies who are prepared to break the impasse by their willingness to be shareholders in the cluster, commit a certain volume of biomass at a certain price for an agreed period...all the basic ingredients for a biomass downstream value-adding industry to take off in Sabah "
ReplyDeleteOn the extraction of high-value derivatives from palm oil and equally high-value sugars in oil palm biomass, Pang said Sabah was in the lead with the setting up of Malaysia's first pilot lignocellulosic refinery by the Teck Guan Group in Tawau in collaboration with Japanese multinational Mitsui.
ReplyDeleteThe extraction of high-value oleo derivatives is multi-billion industry worldwide and Malaysia is moving in this direction under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
ReplyDeleteWe must be thankful that we are safe
ReplyDeletePriority to roads in rural areas on 2014 budget
ReplyDeleteTHE infrastructure development in rural areas, including in Sabah and Sarawak, will continue to be given priority by the government when formulating next year's budget.
Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said the government was prepared to provide more allocation to develop rural infrastructure, particularly road connectivity, provided that it had the required resources.
He said the actual allocation for that purpose would only be decided after taking into consideration the government's financial ability.
"The government has targeted reducing its budget deficit. If it is within our budget, we will work out a bigger allocation for rural road development," he said at the Tambun division Umno office, here, yesterday.
ReplyDeleteHe was commenting on reports that the Works Ministry would seek more funding from the Federal Government to develop Sarawak's infrastructure, particularly road transportation connectivity between Belaga and Kapit.
Works Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof has said the road infrastructure development for Belaga and Kapit would cost more than RM300 million and that the budget might come under the 11th Malaysia Plan.
The two areas are now connected by badly maintained roads used mainly by timber lorries.
Ahmad Husni, who is also Tambun member of parliament, agreed that the development of proper infrastructure in the interiors of Sarawak should be given priority, especially after the two incidents of capsizing boats in the state last week.
ReplyDelete"It is sad that even though our country has developed, there are still people who have to use boats to travel from one place to another, which takes two to three hours.
"I agree with the proposal to make infrastructure development in the remote areas in Sarawak a priority." Last Tuesday, an overloaded express boat capsized near Tanjong Giam Bungan, about an hour's boat ride from Belaga. Another boat sank in choppy waters near Kampung Skitong in Simunjan on Friday.
River transport is preferred in the Rajang Basin because of a lack of roads linking the areas.
In announcing the 2013 Budget last year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said RM4.5 billion would be allocated for rural infrastructure development projects for this year, including RM1.2 billion to develop 441km of rural roads and roads to link villages, especially in the interiors of Sabah and Sarawak.
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ReplyDelete"Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah says the government is prepared to provide more allocation to develop rural infrastructure, particularly road connectivity."
ReplyDeleteThis plan will make sure the safety of road that the people need to use daily.
very thankful to the leader who sees right through the problem in sabah.
ReplyDeleteberi perhatian akan hal seperti ini
ReplyDelete