RM430m bridge a waste: Harris
Published on: Friday, March 02, 2012
Kota Kinabalu: The Federal Government has made a wrong decision to build a bridge linking Semporna and Pulau Bum Bum, according to former Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Salleh."There were and are many projects implemented in Sabah which do not bring economic activities, especially roads crossing here and there. The Federal Government spent billions of ringgit but there is no sign of economic activities, especially in the rural areas," he said.
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In a statement, Harris said instead of a bridge, what the people of Pulau Bum Bum badly need are economic activities."The RM430 million could be spent to once and for all organise and systemise the economic activities of the island people, including aquaculture."Build a few jetties, organise the planting of crops such as vegetables, fruits and many others which the people need daily. "There are maybe 2,000 homes on Pulau Bum Bum, which means that a family gets about RM200,000 for economic development including the improvements to their homes," he said.
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"A bridge will only be for 'makan angin', the tourists will not just come simply for the sake of visiting the bridge. There are many other bridges in Malaysia worth looking at such as the Penang, Kuantan and Kelantan bridges."Nevertheless, once the people of Bum Bum get a steady income of RM3,000 monthly as a result of the RM430 million compared to the present BR1M of RM500 the Federal Government can build a golden bridge," he said.
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