SABAH’S POVERTY RATE DOWN TO 16%

According to Sabah Chief Ministe Datuk Seri Musa. Sabah’s overall poverty rate has dropped to 16 per cent as compared to 23 per cent in 2004 based on the Ninth Malaysia Plan mid-term review. Disclosing this, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman said the hardcore poverty rate too recorded a decline to 3.7 per cent as compared to 6.5 per cent four years ago.
“For the state government, this is an encouraging achievement resulting from the various strategies and programmes implemented to address poverty all this while,” he said after chairing the People’s Development Scheme and Poverty Eradication Steering Committee meeting here yesterday.
Musa who is also Finance Minister said efforts to eradicate hardcore poverty in the state would continue through the “Hardcore Poor Eradication Roadmap”, implemented at the beginning of the 9MP period.
“The Roadmap contains various programmes and already implemented in at least 15 districts have brought positive results,” he said. Apart from that, he said the Rural Development Ministry and agencies like Ko-Nelayan, Rural Development Corporation (KPD) and Yayasan Usaha Maju have also contributed toward the cut in hardcore poverty rate.
Musa added that under the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC), the state government through the Rural Development Ministry has also proposed the implementation of several new Agropolitan projects such as the one implemented in Banggi Island.
The agropolitan project, he said, was among the most effective in addressing poverty. The Chief Minister also announced that the federal government has allocated RM370 million for the Agropolitan projects in 2009 and 2010.
‘And, among other matters which need attention is the need to give priority to the construction and completion of houses under the Housing Aid programme,” he said. He said the allocation for this programme needed to be increased every year based on the disclosure by the 9MP Technical Group that 1,000 units of home would be built every year.
“The cost of construction was estimated at RM40,000 following a review recently but what is more important is that the allocation and the additional funds for each year must be channelled in the early part of the year to ensure the entire allocation is utilised during that year,” he said.
Musa added that the state government was aware that an allocation of more than RM13 million would be channelled by the Implementation Coordinating Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department to the State Development Office for this purpose.
“But the worry is the allocation may not be utilised fully and will encounter payment problem, thus jeopardising the allocation to build such homes for 2009,” he explained. Also present in the meeting were Deputy Chief Ministers Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan and Datuk Yahya Hussin as well as State Secretary Datuk Sukarti Wakiman.