Lajim: Labuan bridge promise is just a gimmick

Sabah opposition leader Lajim Ukin slams Budget 2018 proposal, says talk of 11km-bridge to Labuan was made in last election but nothing has been done since.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah opposition leader Lajim Ukin is not impressed with Putrajaya’s latest declaration of their readiness to build the long-awaited Labuan Bridge which Prime Minister Najib Razak included in his Budget 2018 proposal.

The Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah president told FMT that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government had been talking about the Labuan Bridge since the last election but nothing had ever come out of it except promises after promises.

“Now, suddenly Najib announces the Federal government will do a feasibility study in its effort to spur Labuan’s progress.

“But that is all that he said. No timeline when it would be done, when it is projected to be completed, how much is needed, no allocation for the study.

“How many studies are needed anyway? Even Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) had done a study too (on the feasibility of the Labuan Bridge),” he said.

Lajim said if Najib is really sincere, the least he could do is explain that the study will start next year instead of dangling the carrot in front of the people of Labuan just to get their votes.

The promise, he said is not something that the Labuan people could be proud of or even rely on because unfortunately, it is only an election gimmick played by BN.

In his Budget 2018 speech yesterday, Najib said the Federal government will conduct a feasibility study to build a bridge linking the Labuan island to the mainland of Sabah to rejuvenate the duty-free haven.

The proposed 11km bridge is seen as the catalyst to bring positive economic development to the island.

The island has been experiencing economic slowdown since early 2015 after the retrenchment of nearly 12,000 workers in the oil and gas industry.

“While the BN government simply gives lip service to the people of Labuan, Gabungan Sabah has been talking about the project consistently and coincidentally, during my policy speech yesterday at my party’s first delegation meeting, the Labuan bridge was one of the main subjects.

“The people of Labuan should not worry and think that only a BN government can build the bridge. Gabungan Sabah has always been consistent on this issue and we will work towards it,” he said.

On the question of rural development, Lajim also questioned the reason behind the reduced value of rural projects allocated to Sabah.

Apart from the allocation to rebuild dilapidated school buildings and the construction of the Pan Borneo Highway, Sabah and Sarawak are allocated only RM1.42 billion to improve its rural roads, provide clean water supply and to supply electricity to 10,000 houses in the Bornean island.

The rural electricity supply project is estimated to be RM620 million while the rural roads and water supply projects are estimated to be RM800 million.

“That means only RM400 million for Sabah. How can anyone say this is fair? In my speech yesterday, I had pointed out that Sabah and Sarawak produce 85% of this country’s oil and gas.

“We should be getting more than what we are now getting. In terms of budget, this is way too low and unbalanced,” he said. -FMT