Sarawak wants Harapan to honour RM1b for dilapidated schools

SARAWAK DUN | Sarawak hopes the Pakatan Harapan federal government will honour the RM1 billion additional allocation to rebuild and upgrade 1,020 dilapidated schools in the state, the state legislative assembly was told today.

State education, science and technological research minister Michael Manyin said the previous federal government had approved the amount to address the issue of dilapidated schools in 2018 and 2019, which is over and above the allocation under the 11th Malaysia Plan.

“To speed up the rebuilding and upgrading of our schools, the Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg wrote to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng on Aug 1 regarding the Sarawak government’s offer to lend to the federal government RM1 billion so that the problem can be addressed speedily.

“However, to date, we have not received any reply from the finance minister,” he said when winding up the debate for his ministry on the Supply Bill 2019 in the House.

As of today, he said, 371 schools in Sarawak are still dependent on generator sets, for electricity and 428 schools are still without treated water.

Manyin said RM50 million was required to connect the 113 identified schools to the electricity grid, while another RM9 million was needed to enable 33 schools to have treated water supply.

“However, because education is under the purview of the federal government and the schools are the property of the Federal Land Commissioner, the formal consent of the Education Ministry to carry out the works is required,” he said, adding that he had yet to receive any such consent in writing.

Manyin said dilapidated schools remain a major concern in Sarawak, and although the previous government spent RM419 million under the 2018 Budget, the amount was only enough to address the issue at 116 of the 1,020 dilapidated schools.

He also touched on the Sarawak Harapan manifesto, which promised that the state shall attain full autonomy in all education matters and undertake the financial obligations involved.

“Sarawak Harapan has no locus standi to make such an offer. As far as the state is concerned, we have not received any formal offer in respect of this, be it from the federal government or Sarawak Harapan,” he added.

- Bernama