KINABATANGAN: Sandakan is poised to become the second city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu after all the criteria as a city have been met, says deputy chief minister Bung Moktar Radin.
Following this, a soft-launch of Sandakan as a city is expected to be officiated by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob this month.
Sandakan’s Committee on Economic Development and Investment (JPEPS), which held a meeting recently, had agreed to announce Sandakan as a city on Feb 22.
“We have forwarded all relevant applications to the Sabah local government and housing ministry,” he told reporters after attending a back-to-school programme organised by Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) here today.
Also present was SESB CEO Abdul Nasser Abdul Wahid.
Bung Moktar, who is also JPEPS chairman, said various plans to upgrade Sandakan Municipal Council to a city hall had been drawn up, including creating a private hospital and ensuring adequate housing, apart from the development of public infrastructure facilities.
The deputy chief minister, who is also Kinabatangan MP, said the status of Sandakan as a city would empower districts like Beluran, Kinabatangan and Tongod in terms of economic development besides attracting more tourists to the area.
At the event, Bung Moktar also handed out SESB’s school aid to 300 school children in Kinabatangan, aside from a RM34,000 donation to SK Kuamut, a school adopted by SESB to aid teaching and learning in the school.
He also officiated the 700-megawatt Balat power station, which is capable of providing electricity to nearby villages in a move to enable more rural folks to have access to electricity.
“The station has been in operation since Aug 1 and some 400 residents in Kampung Balat now have 24-hour electricity,” he said.
He said he also hoped the rural development ministry would implement rural electricity supply projects that had been planned to help improve the quality of life in rural areas where residents still relied on electric generator sets for their daily activities.
According to him, RM120.5 million had been allocated to implement rural electricity supply grid line connections to three zones covering the districts of Kudat, Pitas, Kota Belud, Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu, Papar and Sandakan. - FMT
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