In line with Sarawak’s initiatives to transform rural areas and ensure that no one is left behind, the 2020 Development Budget will continue to be rural-biased to further stimulate economic progress with a proposed Budget of RM9.891 billion, says Abang Johari Tun Openg (above).

The chief minister said out of the total budget, an allocation of RM6.597 billion is for development expenditure, with the remaining RM3.294 billion for operating expenditure.

Abang Johari, who is also state Finance and Economic Planning Minister, said taking into account an estimated total revenue of RM10.067 billion and a total proposed ordinary expenditure of RM9.694 billion, the proposed 2020 Budget is expected to generate a surplus of RM373 million.

"The state has made concerted efforts to expand its revenue stream through re-engineering of its revenue base in order to enable the state to maintain its development momentum and keep up with an accelerated pace of development, especially in the rural areas which require a substantial amount of funding.

"Under the 2020 State Budget, the state has decided (among others) to levy a State Sales Tax of one per cent on aluminium products that are exported out of Sarawak, and to revise the tariff for the extraction of raw water from one sen per cubic metre to 2.5 sen per cubic metre,” he said when tabling the Supply (2020) Bill at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly sitting in Kuching today.

He also said that the Sarawak Government proposes to introduce a free water programme next year, estimated to benefit 600,000 household accounts throughout the state.

Abang Johari said under the programme, every household from both urban and rural areas will enjoy free water for the first RM5 of their monthly water bill.

“This will involve an allocation of RM40 million,” he said.

He said the government was also proposing to introduce special assistance for post-natal care, with a total funding of RM18 million to be allocated next year as additional assistance to mothers for post-natal care to ease their financial burden upon giving birth.

“Each mother will receive RM450 effective from 1st January 2020,” he said, adding that this was a continuation of the incentive announced in the 2019 State Budget in which every Sarawakian newborn baby would receive RM1,000.

Other than that, Abang Johari said the state government also plans to introduce a free school bus service next year for students within Kuching city.

He said, the service will be based on the ‘hop-on hop-off’ concept where the students could hop-on the bus at any point along the route, and then hop-off at their respective schools.

“This idea was mooted from our recognition of the financial burden faced by low-income families in urban areas in meeting the cost of transportation to schools.

“Notwithstanding that, this service will also help to ease traffic congestion in the city area. This will be our pilot initiative and will be introduced to other densely populated cities in Sarawak, when the need arises,” he said.

Apart from that, he said, to ease the difficulties of some Sarawakian graduates in paying their National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) loans, the state government will set aside a sum of RM30 million for a mechanism to assist those in need.

- Bernama