KUCHING: The Sarawak government could make a bid to retain the revenue from Goods and Services Tax (GST) collected in the state or have most of it redirected back to fund development.
It wants a bigger share of the 6% tax collected from Sarawakians, given that its oil and gas income has declined by more than half since 2014.
Aaccording to newly-appointed Infrastructure Development and Transportation Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing, the state Cabinet would discuss the matter soon.
It would then bring it up with the federal Cabinet, said the deputy chief minister.
He said Sarawak drew up plans in 2013 to build 4,404km of rural roads to connect more than 1,000 settlements by 2030, costing an estimated RM24.8bil.
“If we want to complete it on time, we will have to build 330km of roads a year, which will cost about RM1.9bil. It is a tall order.
“The question is whether we have the money. Let me make a connection. GST collection in Sarawak is RM2bil a year, we need RM1.9bil. We have the money but do we have the political will to get it back?” he said.
Sarawak, the biggest state in Malaysia, is about the size of the peninsula and has about 5,000 rural settlements.
But due to the low population, the density is only about 20 people per sq km, which is vastly lower than the 180 people per sq km in peninsular Malaysia, making public spending in Sarawak sometimes seem less cost-effective.
But Dr Masing said divisions such as Mukah, Kapit and Sibu were still below 70% in terms of road coverage.
“There is so much more that needs to be done. Roads are enablers of quicker growth,” he said.
The RM24.8bil worth of planned rural roads are not part of the RM16bil Pan-Borneo Highway in Sarawak. These are smaller infrastructures that go into the hinterland.
About a decade ago, the Federal Government mooted the idea of allowing the Defence Ministry to use army personnel to build small rural roads in Sarawak under a programme called Jiwa Murni. This was to reduce cost.
Yesterday, Dr Masing, while not hitting out at the quality of the Jiwa Murni roads, pointed out that serious upgrades were required, when asked about the Auditor-General’s recent report in which the ministry’s projects were heavily criticised.
According to the report, eight of the 11 projects were defective and not properly maintained.
Dr Masing said the army-built roads were finished at about a third of the normal cost.
