Wong (seated, centre) shows the PSB booklet together with (seated, from left) Ting, Leong, Janet and Kong. Standing from left are Dr Ling, Dr Low, Shiling, Hie Ping and Dr Wong.
SIBU (Aug 19): Parti Sarawak Besatu (PSB) president Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh has described the state government’s Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030 as ‘glossy but unrealistic’.
He said while the lofty targets were worth the praise, there was no record or status of the current affairs in Sarawak to benchmark the target.
“Therefore, to set 2030 as the year for the achievement of all targets set is a stark revelation that this 2030 target set is out of reality,” he said told a press conference when launching the ‘PSB Review on The Sarawak Post Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030’ booklet, here yesterday.
He said since no one knows when the Covid-19 pandemic will end, it is therefore unclear when PCDS 2030 will start.
“It is at best like the Wawasan 2020 formulated by former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad or the National Transformation 2050 by another former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak,” he added.
“It’s a mere political slogan for drumming purpose and nothing more.”
Wong said apart from setting “outlandish” targets, the PCDS 2030 very much “recycles and repeats” the government’s excessive and extravagant projects such as the RM6 billion Second Trunk Road and the Automated Rapid Transit (ART) projects.
He reiterated that the Second Trunk Road is redundant since there is already the Pan Borneo Highway and the coastal road, while the ART project has no commercial viability, economic feasibility, or real social benefits.
“We ought to prioritise and also address the fundamental problems and needs of the people such as provision of roads connectivity, electricity and water supply.”
Wong, who is Bawang Assan assemblyman, said he recently made several travels to the rural areas and many of these settlements were only accessible by gravel, timber or plantation roads, hence making transportation difficult.
Adding on, he said under PCDS 2030, a key target is for Sarawak to achieve an average economic growth rate of eight per cent annually to double the size of Sarawak’s economy from RM136 billion in 2019 to RM282 billion by 2030.
He said the calculation, whether by simple or compound growth rate of eight per cent per annum over 2019 to 2030 amounting to RM282 billion, was “erroneous”.
According to him, the PCDS 2030 failed to show as to how Sarawak could suddenly rocket to an average eight per cent GDP growth rate when for the past few years, its GDP growth had been below 8 per cent per annum at -2.1 percent (2020), 2.5 per cent (2019), 2.2 per cent (2018), 4.5 per cent (2017) and 2.4 per cent (2016).
“In the national context, the Malaysia GDP growth rates were also all below eight per cent per annum as follows: -5.6 per cent (2020), 4.3 per cent (2019) 4.8 per cent (2018), 5.8 per cent (2017) and 4.5 per cent (2016).
“In fact, before the Covid-19 pandemic, from 2016 to 2019, Sarawak’s economy grew only by an average of 2.9 per cent per annum. So how can our economy growth suddenly leapfrog from 2.9 per cent to eight per cent by 2030?”
In the PSB booklet, Wong also listed several areas like the manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, forestry, mining and social services sectors, where the targets set was not realistic.
“There is no question that the targets set for 2030 are impressive to behold. Unfortunately, they are completely unrealistic and beyond reach. It raises the serious questions as to what farfetched and outrageous information and data could possibly have been used to support them,” he said.
Wong said the information relied on is either inaccurate, irrelevant or simply wrong.
“In any case, if the integrity of the underlying information and assumption leading to these outrageous targets can be called into question, then what credibility can be given to these targets?”
He stressed that ambitious goals must have proper basis, otherwise, it will simply stay a flashy wish list that will never come to be.
“Hopefully, the GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) government will take our suggestions constructively, with an open heart and mind, to do what is best for Sarawak irrespective of political differences.”
With Wong at the press conference were his wife Datin Sri Leong Poh Ling, PSB Pelawan branch chairman Kapitan Datuk Janet Lau, Bukit Assek branch acting chairman Andrew Ting, Dudong branch acting chairman Kong Tze Ling, and PSB Sibu task force members Dr Wong Siu Ying, Dr David Ling, Wong Hie Ping, Dr Low Chong Nguan and Andrew Shilling.