KL 'yes' to Special Grant review
Published on: Saturday, April 18, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: The Federal Government has in principle agreed to review the Special Grant for Sabah but the sum needs to be determined first based on its ability as well as allocation channeled to the State Government.Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman in his winding up speech for the Chief Minister's Department read by Special Tasks Minister, Datuk Teo Chee Kang on Thursday said the Federal Government made the decision after the Special Committee to Review Sabah Special Grant convened on Jan 29, 2014.According to him, the latest development on the matter was that a meeting was supposed to be conducted at the end of October last year but it was postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.ADVERTISEMENT "The State Government will continue with the effort to get the Federal special grant for Sabah to be reviewed and that a positive decision can be met so that the State's economy can be uplifted in parallel with other states in Malaysia," he said.The Federal Government had started giving the annual Special Grant to Sabah in 1963 as provided for under Article 112C, 122D and Part IV of 10th Schedule of the Federal Constitution.There was a misconception that the special grant amount was 40 per cent of the nett revenue collected by the Federal Government from Sabah but the actual definition of "nett revenue" here was revenue collected by the Federal Government minus revenue channeled to the State Government, he said.In 1964 the Special Grant for Sabah was RM2.5 million and it steadily grew five years after that with RM29.3 million being channeled to Sabah in 1968.ADVERTISEMENT In 1973 the amount received by Sabah was RM26.7 million and it remained until today. "But the State Government will continue to work towards getting this amount to be reviewed including proposing a new calculation formula," he said.Musa said the State Government also agreed for a Land Bank to be set up which can be used for future development as proposed by Pantai Manis Assemblyman, Datuk Rahim Ismail.
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On Rahim's proposal for the State Government to reacquire the 200 acres titled land that had been abandoned and with expiring lease term in Kampung Kalanahan, Papar, he said a study would be conducted on the land usage.If there is pressing need for Bumiputera housing development, he said the State Government would gazette the areas as Bumiputera Housing Reserve.As for the grazing reserve that is yet to be developed, the State Government would consider gazetting part of it as Bumiputera Housing Reserve and the site for the people housing programme and People Housing 1Malaysia Programme (PR1MA) if the development was really needed, he said.A detailed study is needed on the proposal to prohibit non-Sabahans to purchase Country Lease (CL) titled land above 100 acres especially in terms of its impact to the social and economy as well as investors' confidence to come to Sabah, he said.Balung Assemblyman, Datuk Syed Abbas Syed Ali had suggested that the non-Sabahans be prohibited to buy more than 100 acres of CL land except for those located in the urban areas.Nonetheless, Musa said sales transaction involving CL lands to individuals or companies be it from Sabah or outside of the State was provided for under Section 10 of the Land Ordinance Chap 68 whereby the property is open for the open market for development in order to encourage foreign investors to come to Sabah.For agriculture land 1,000 acres and above, 30 to 49 per cent of the land ownership shares are allocated to the natives or bumiputera, he said.On the issue of the hospital for Universiti Malaysia Sabah's (UMS) medical school, he said the State Cabinet had decided on Dec 9, 2011 to approve a UMS Teaching Hospital (HUMS) that would be developed through public private partnership by the Federal agency, Public Private Partnership Unit. The development plan for 400-bed HUMS on a site identified in the UMS campus had been completed that was monitored by the Federal Public Work Department. The development plan had been submitted to City Hall for endorsement as part of the terms of the HUMS development, he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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On the issue of stateless children, Musa said the government has yet to make any official decision on whether to give them documents or pass until a thorough study and census on them had been completed.The issue was currently being scrutinised by two committees namely the Main Committee and Technical Committee on Foreign Migrants Management in Sabah set up as recommended by the Royal Commission of Inquiry.