Smallholders can’t send oil palm fruits to mills
Published on: Sunday, March 12, 2023
By: Christy Chok and Aishah Abdullah
Shahelmey and Hamka
TAWAU: Oil palm smallholders in Ulu Kalumpang claim losing up to RM2.5 million monthly the past six months due to dilapidated roads rendering it unable to transport oil palm fruits smoothly.Hamka bin Kasma, on behalf of the smallholders, said being unable to send fruits to the mills, greatly affected their livelihood.
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They urged the Government to give this matter serious consideration and take appropriate action to solve it as soon as possible.
He said 12 trucks were stuck in the mud due to the dilapidated roads along the plantation recently.
The smallholders paying a courtesy call to the Tawau Public Works Department.
The smallholders also paid a courtesy call to the Tawau Public Works Department and the latter instructed the relevant contractors to repair the roads. It would help the smallholders to apply for road maintenance from the government.
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Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister III cum Public Works Minister Datuk Ir Shahelmey Yahya said the Government is trying to improve rural roads in the State.
Commenting on a well-known speaker Syamsul Debat recounting his experience on the bad roads in Pitas district, Shahelmey said his Ministry was assessing rural roads that needed to be upgraded.
Our report on March 11
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“There are several road sections in Ranau and Pitas that were contracted to be upgraded but the road referred to by Syamsul in TikTok, I am not sure whether it is included in the upgrading project or not.
“However, we will try to upgrade the rural roads which are in bad conditions but depending on the current allocation from year to year,” he said after the groundbreaking ceremony for the Orphanage and Asnaf As-Sakinah Complex in Taman Lok Kawi beach, near here, on Friday.
According to Shahelmey, some rural road upgrading projects had already started and some had yet to start depending on road classification.
“There are road upgrade projects that have already started construction, and some yet to be carried out, in this rural area, there are roads classified as rural roads which are included in the Public Works Department (PWD) list.
The trucks were stuck in the mud due to dilapidated road.
“Besides, there are roads which are actually logged roads that have yet to enter the PWD list, but they are also used by villagers who built houses after the road was opened, so this is one of our challenges, that is, to see if these roads have indeed been included in the PWD list or not,” he explained.
Recently, Syamsul Debat went viral on social media ‘TikTok’ talking about his experience during a preaching visit to a village in the interior of Pitas district.
In the 3.50-minute video, he said the road to the village was very bad and difficult as well as impassable when it rained.
Concerned about the condition of the people living in the area, Syamsul hoped the contractor would repair or upgrade the road immediately.
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