Over RM12m approved for projects in Sabah areas under opposition

 

Over RM12.41 million has been approved for the Community Development Leaders Unit (UPPM) in constituencies under the opposition in the first six months of this year, the Sabah State Legislative Assembly was told today.

State Assistant Finance Minister Jasni Daya said of the amount, RM11.17 million had been channelled to UPPM for the implementation of projects in their respective constituencies.

He said the allocation involved 354 small projects approved by Chief Minister Hajiji Noor.

“To speed up the process of channelling this special allocation from the Finance Ministry, the UPPM involved can submit applications through the local authorities in their respective areas,” he said in reply to a question from Alias Sani (Warisan-Sekong) who wanted to know the amount.

Jasni said the application to obtain the allocation must be submitted to the chief minister for approval, subject to existing financial procedures.

Reduce chemical pesticides

Meanwhile, Sabah Assistant Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Hendrus Anding said the State Agriculture Department encouraged the local fertiliser production industry to reduce the use of chemical pesticides through several measures including adopting the Integrated Pest Management approach.

“We also encourage and promote the use of agricultural inputs based on beneficial microorganisms such as plant booster, growth enhancer and bokashi (compost fertiliser),” he added.

He was responding to a question from Tan Lee Fatt (DAP-Likas) on the state government’s plan to reduce the dependence on imported animal feed, fertilisers and chemical-based pesticides.

Shafie Apdal

Earlier, Shafie Apdal (Warisan-Senallang) failed in his second attempt to table a motion to debate security threats of the purported heirs of the Sulu sultanate.

Speaker Kadzim M Yahya said according to Standing Order 23A (2) of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly any motion that had been previously rejected could not be brought up again for tabling.

Last Monday, Kadzim rejected the motion brought forth by Shafie in accordance with Standing Order 23 (2) which requires an application to table any motion to be made within 24 hours before the start of the conference.

- Bernama