RANAU: Chief Minister and GRS Chairman, Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji Noor reiterated that the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) supreme council has agreed to maintain the present formula of cooperation with Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the upcoming state election.
He said history has shown that a state government needs to have a strong relationship with the Federal Government.
“We want strong ties with the Federal Government. We want stability and we hope the people will understand that we are doing the best for them. To bring prosperity to them,” he said this during the ground-breaking ceremony for the Paginatan new township held at the Nunuk Ragang Memorial open-air hall, near here.
The Chief Minister said the present GRS-PH State Government’s track record of bringing progress to Sabah has been proven.
“We have more than 400 initiatives under the Hala Tuju Sabah Maju Jaya development agenda, and about 94 per cent of them have already been implemented,” he said.
Hajiji said this was contrary to the opposition’s claim, which he said was intended to pull wool over the peoples’ eyes.
Hajiji said the GRS-PH government had approved numerous assistance programmes for the state’s education development and people’s prosperity, which had never been done by other state governments before.
“This year alone, we are giving monthly assistance of RM300 to nearly 100,000 hardcore poor, and this initiative will be continued if the people returned the mandate to GRS-PH in the coming election,” he said.
He also said that the GRS-PH State Government had succeeded in getting greater participation in the oil and gas sector through the historic signing of the Commercial Collaborative Agreement (CCA) with Petronas in 2021.
Earlier, he said that the State Government, through the Sabah Housing and Town Development Authority (SHTDA), is committed to continuing its agenda of addressing urban and rural poverty in the state through the new township development programme.
He said the long-awaited Paginatan New Township project is expected to drive the local economy in the area, in line with the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) development roadmap, which at its core, aims at prioritising the well-being of the people and improving theirquality of life.
The 200-acre new township, located approximately 43 km from here, will be developed in five phases, involving the construction of various important amenities, including government offices, shops, low-cost housing, multi-purpose hall, library, health centre, market, police and fire stations.
Once completed, the people in Paginatan would no longer have to go to Ranau or Telupid to deal with government departments, he said.
Hajiji also assured that issues affecting the people in Paginatan constituency that were raised by its Assemblyman, Datuk Abidin Madingkir, would be addressed.-pr/BNN
