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KOTA KINABALU: A Sabah minister fears that many poor rural people will lose out if the federal government allows eKasih registered households to benefit from its electricity subsidy.
Sabah's Minister of Rural Development, Ewon Benedick, described the targeted grant programs of the 2019 budget as "better than in previous years", saying that many people living in rural areas were not registered in the system. eKasih.
This would mean that they would have to pay for electricity even if their bill was less than RM 20 per month, he said.
"There are many rural people who have not signed eKasih, but whose uncertain income is less than RMB 500 per month. They should also benefit from this grant, "he said here today.
Benedick said that members of families receiving social assistance, but not registered with eKasih, should also continue to benefit from this benefit.
When tabling the 2019 budget, the Minister of Finance, Lim Guan Eng, said at the moment that all households consuming less than 20 RMB in electricity per month are fully subsidized by the government.
The government intends to make this policy more targeted where only the poor and poor poor registered with eKasih would qualify, he said.
In doing so, the government could increase the grant to RM 40 per month, which would benefit 185,000 accounts and an allocation of RM 80 million, he added.
The eKasih system has been developed to help the government better plan, implement and monitor national poverty eradication programs.
Oil royalty for Sabah
At the same time, Benedick, vice president of Upko, admitted that he hoped the budget would cover the issue of oil royalties in Sabah.
"Personally, I had hoped that it would affect the royalties and the 40% tax revenue due to Sabah, as stipulated by the Federal Constitution.
"If Petronas pays a special dividend of RM 30 billion to the federal government, it should be able to sell 5% of Petronas to Sabah, in addition to the 5% that the state already receives.
"This would make a 10% royalty for Sabah for state development purposes," he said.
Benedick acknowledged that Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali had previously indicated that a committee had been formed to discuss the payment mechanism and that this committee would contribute within six months.
The Kadamean assembly, however, praised the allocation of RM 5 billion in Sabah, the continuation of the Pan-Borneo highway and the budget allocation of RM 60 billion to the Ministry of Education.
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