LARGEST....
Musa's concluding remarks to end the debate on Sabah's largest budget ever.
By : FIZAH YUSOF
IN HIS SPEECH to wind up the
debate on the 2013 budget Chief Minister Musa Aman, who is also Sabah's Minster
of Finance, told the House that the state government had taken a dynamic
approach in preparing the annual budget, taking great care to address the current
situations and circumstances, especially those that affect the interest and
welfare of the people, and it makes provisions on the strength of its own
financial capability and federal allocations.
He told the House that the
state revenues are steadily growing because there is an efficient management
and collection machinery in place, mechanism that led to increased State
revenue collection, as can be seen in 2007 when revenue soared to RM2.37
billion and reached RM3.3 billion in 2008.
"It then went up to
RM4.368 billion in 2011, the highest level ever collected," he said.
Musa did not take kindly to
opposition member from Sri Tanjung, Jimmy Wong's negative comments that the
2013 budget looked no different from the previous budgets.
"This is the view of
people who can't see the difference between right and the wrong. This is
typical of the opposition who refuse to look and listen and always deny the
achievements of the government. They continue to tell the people that the
Barisan Nasional (BN) Government is incompetent and incapable of doing anything
right and does not struggle for the rakyat," he said.
Musa went on to repudiate
Wong's claim that the State's Consolidated Fund had shrunk. He said Wong knew
nothing about the basis of State Budget planning. Reminding the House that
there is a price to pay for the development and prosperity of the State and
people, he stressed that the Government was prepared to spend a large sum on
development even though doing so will reduce the State Consolidated Fund.
"What is important is
the State's financial reserve remains strong even though we increase
expenditures," he said.
Elaborating further on state
revenues, Musa said that Petronas paid Sabah RM941.25 million in oil royalty
this year - the highest amount ever in the State's history. The amount exceeded
the State Government's initial estimate of RM774.6 million.
Taking a long-term
perspective, the Chief Minister acknowledged that the state government must
focus on revenues from investments in order not to rely too much on sales tax
from crude palm oil and from oil royalties that together make up some 53.63 per
cent of the state's total revenues annually.
Addressing a question from
Luyang Assemblywoman Melanie Chia who asked if the State Government would be
paying the RM544 million bond in one go upon its maturity in 2013, and run the
risk of running into a cumulative deficit of RM804.48 million, Musa said the
State Government would be able to provide sufficient funding when the bond
becomes due in 2014, not 2013, he corrected Chia.
Explaining why the Chief
Minister's Department has been allocated the highest allocation for next year,
Musa said this is because his Department has to meet many expenditures, which
include a RM203 million development fund for religious purposes, for the
Assemblymen's "Sentuhan Kasih" funds, for Forestry and Lands and
Survey Departments, and for the salaries and operations of the various
departments under the CMD amounting to RM443.9 million.
Musa also touched on the
large segment of the expenditure budget allocated to the Finance Ministry for
distribution to the relevant departments to finance the programmes and projects
for 2013.
According to him a total of
RM960 million is set aside for trust share accounts, RM873.6 million for
special fund projects under the oil palm industry, for repair of damages caused
by natural disasters, to fund support infrastructure, for the construction and
maintenance of government buildings, for grants to non-Muslim religious bodies
and schools, for buying and maintenance of government vehicles, payment of
State Government's debts, payment to the water concessionaires as well as
equity investments.
The Chief Minister pointed
out that all these large allocations appropriated for the Chief Minister's
Department and Ministry of Finance are clearly explained in the 2013 Budget
Booklet. He chided the Sri Tanjung representative for his "unhealthy accusations"
and queries about these allocations.
"So the conclusion is
that the Hon. member from Sri Tanjung did not read the 2013 State Budget
booklet and did not even know the issues he raised," he said.
After a two-day debate the
State Assembly passed the 2013 State Budget of RM4.088 billion, the highest in
the State's budget history. 30 assemblymen were present for the vote count. (Insight
Sabah)
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