NO FUNDS EVEN FOR ROADS: Yet enough to splash on glitzy overseas trips for PM & wife?

The tweets between Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Housing, Local Government and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Abdul Dahalan Rahman are interesting.

Why does it have to take villagers from six villages in Sabah to raise funds for the construction of a road connecting their villages to Pitas town, before these two ministers start looking into the plight of the villagers when construction was halted in 2000?

This is not the only case where projects are stalled for whatever reasons.

In fact, there are cases where even though a project costs only RM6 million, there are no funds to carry out the project.

When I visited the Sg Palas Boh Tea plantation in 2009, I was shocked to see the condition of the road and the number of tourists (both local and foreign) using the road to reach the tea plantation.

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein

Cars from both directions were caught in a traffic jam, and my car could have easily plunged into the ravine if I had been a novice driver. A national tragedy is waiting to happen.

After highlighting this to former tourism minister, Tan Sri Dr Ng Yen Yen, who was also the Raub MP, there was no response.

Further, I also highlighted to the Cameron Highlands MP. Again, there was no response.

I also checked with the Public Works Department in Cameron Highlands and its state office in Kuantan, and both told me that there was no budget to expand the road.

Datuk Abdul Dahalan Rahman

I was told expanding the road would cost RM6 million and it would be included only during the budget rollout in early 2015.

With 2015 just two months to go, I wonder if this “promise” made 1½ years ago would be fulfilled. Or does it have to take a major accident to happen before the government looks into the complaints? –TMI