Get facts right before commenting on disaster management allocation - Sabah govt

KOTA KINABALU: All parties, including politicians, have been asked to check the facts before commenting on the RM18.24 million disaster management allocation announced recently by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob for Sabah.

Sabah Assistant Finance Minister Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan said the allocation was just the start of continued disaster management aid assured by the Federal Government.

He said the RM18.24 million was for the immediate needs of disaster management including COVID-19, adding that the Sabah Disaster Management Committee had already received RM8 million for disaster relief previously.

Nizam said the state government had also applied for more than RM200 million in disaster relief and management allocations to the prime minister during the disaster management committee meeting last week.

"The request for more than RM200 million involves an allocation of about RM147 million to repair infrastructure damaged by floods and about RM83 million more for COVID-19 disaster management.

"The Prime Minister during his recent visit to Sabah also gave an assurance that the Federal government would provide more assistance to Sabah," he told Bernama today.

DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu Chan Foong Hin recently questioned why the Federal government had only provided RM18.24 million to manage disasters in Sabah compared to the RM78 allocation given to Kedah flood victims.

Nizam advised Chan to check his facts before issuing statements on the matter.

On Sept 16, the Federal government, through the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) has allocated more than RM18.24 million to help Sabah manage counter measures against disasters to ensure the welfare of those affected was always protected.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the allocation would be used for buying 2,000 units of Food Kits (RM160,000), 2,500 units of C-Tents (RM961,250), as well as the operations of the State Disaster Management Committee (RM20,000), operations of 22 districts under the Disaster Management Committee (RM1,100,000) and COVID-19 operations management (RM16 million).

-- BERNAMA