Sarawak still waiting for funds to repair schools, says MP

Batang Sadong MP Nancy Shukri says many schools in Sarawak are in need of repair. (Bernama pic)

KUCHING: Batang Sadong MP Nancy Shukri claims Sarawak has yet to receive allocations from the federal government to repair dilapidated schools in the state, with some projects even cancelled despite earlier approval.

In some cases, she said, the state government had been forced to step in and allocate funds from its own coffers to upgrade these schools.

“Sarawak has a lot of dilapidated schools and the federal government told us they would undertake their repair, but we don’t know what the current status is,” she said, adding that Sarawak had allocated RM81.7 million in its last budget to upgrade 116 schools in the state.

She told FMT that after the May 9 general election last year, all projects funded by the federal government which had progressed below 30% were cancelled.

Nancy Shukri.

“Only those which progressed more than 30% are proceeding,” she said.

“People are asking about these projects, but we did not cancel them. It is the new government that did it.”

She claimed even tenders to repair rundown schools in her constituency which were already approved were subsequently cancelled.

“When we asked Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to restart them, he told us to wait and that he would look into the matter.

“We are not interested in quarrelling with anybody,” she said. “All we want is to make sure that our constituencies are well developed.

“These are small projects worth RM10,000 to RM30,000. It’s not much, yet they were all cancelled.”

Nancy voiced hope that the federal government would fulfil its promise, adding that it had so far provided allocations of RM100,000 for opposition MPs.

“We appreciate it, but what is RM100,000 to Sarawak, especially for those in rural areas?” - FMT