Road maintenance is government’s responsibility, people should not be burdened – Ewon

6 Dec 2021

By Wartawan Nabalu News

KOTA KINABALU: The people should not carry the burden in collecting their own money or donations and conduct ‘gotong-royong’ for the sake of maintaining roads because it is the responsibility of the Government, said Kadamaian State Assemblyman Datuk Ewon Benedick.

“We must empathize with our people who have lost their income since the Covid-19 pandemic emerged. In the Kadamaian state constituency, when schools opened on November 22, parents, teachers and other road users have complained that their road was badly damaged and not well maintained.

“In several kampungs, the villagers had to take their own initiatives to collect donations and organise gotong-royong to repair the road. In Kadamaian, the main roads to schools are such as to SK Sayap, SK Melangkap, SK Tengkurus, SK Lasau, SK Gensurai and many more. These roads are under the responsibility of the Public Works Department (PWD) and the District Council,” he said.

Ewon also stated that there have been a lot of negative reactions from the people after the Government announced the proposed construction of the Skytrain in the Kota Kinabalu city center, a few days ago.

“That is why when there are private initiatives such as the Skytrain project connecting the city center to the airport, the people sarcastically question such priority because, for the rural communities, they want their roads to be upgraded. The government should not make the people wait for many more decades for their roads to be asphalt.

“The Government often talks about ‘game-changer projects in the city, but what about the aspirations of the rural people who also wanted ‘game-changer projects in their villages? They won’t be using the train on a daily basis,” he asserted.

Ewon stated this while debating the 2022 Sabah Budget at the DUN sitting, today.