MIRI: The federal government’s Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 policy is an extension of Vision 2020, said Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin.
“This is because we will not be able to become a developed nation by 2020 as planned earlier, after looking at the various socio-economic indicators including poverty level and development gap between region and state,” he said.
He said that the 2020 Budget provides too much funds for operating purposes.
“For Sarawak, we need more funds for development purposes,” he said to reporters after attending the Head of State’s 83rd birthday awards investiture ceremony at Mega Hotel here, yesterday.
Citing on the Stage Bus Service Transformation (SBST), the federal government is supposed to provide funds to bus companies to transform their bus services.
“Sarawak through Konsortium Bus Bandaraya Kuching (KBBK) is serious in its efforts to transform bus services in the state,” he pointed out.
He added that the state government has made a policy decision that the KBBK should buy electric buses instead of diesel buses that was planned earlier by the federal government.
“We want to be at the forefront in using electric buses to ensure clean and environmentally-friendly bus services in the state.
“The initial plan was to purchase diesel buses but we don’t want to pollute our environment. Therefore, we decided to go for electric buses and the total cost to purchase 108 electric buses is RM302 million,” he said.
Lee added, that his ministry and KBBK have written letters to the federal-level Transport Ministry to get clarification on the availability of funds for the purchase of electric buses but have yet to receive a reply.
“Since the federal government has announced through its 2020 Budget to purchase up to 500 electric buses with an allocation of RM450 million, I hope the request for funding from the KBBK will be given due consideration and approval,” he stressed.
