KUCHING: Sabah and Sarawak will receive increased development allocations of RM5.2bil and RM4.6bil respectively under Budget 2022.
Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the allocations were meant for water, electricity and road infrastructure as well as health and education facilities.
"Balancing the development between states is important to ensure that the entire Malaysian Family can enjoy the benefits of development," he said
The development allocation for Sabah and Sarawak in this year's budget was RM5.1bil and RM4.5bil respectively.
Tengku Zafrul also announced RM1.5bil for rural infrastructure development in the two Borneo states.
He said this was a large chunk of the RM2.5bil allocated for various programmes aimed at closing the development gap between regions in the country.
In addition, he announced RM200mil to subsidise transport and distribution costs of daily necessities like LPG and petrol to rural areas in Sabah and Sarawak.
Another RM209mil is allocated to subsidise rural air services in both states.
"People living in remote areas and Sabah and Sarawak have to travel on logging roads for hours to reach the nearest town.
"We understand the difficulties faced by these people, such as those living in Kudat and Long Pasia in Sabah and Ba'Kelalan and Bario in Sarawak," he said.
Of the RM746mil allocated to upgrade dilapidated schools, Tengku Zafrul said it would include 112 projects in Sabah and 165 projects in Sarawak.
He also said RM10mil was allocated to encourage Sabah and Sarawak youths to learn about their culture and heritage.
Tengku Zafrul was tabling the 2022 Budget in Dewan Rakyat on Friday (Oct 29).
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob earlier had said the Budget was drawn up to benefit all quarters in line with the Malaysian Family concept which assures that no one will be left out in the country’s recovery agenda after experiencing difficulties brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.