KOTA KINABALU, Nov 24 — The Sabah government has allocated RM813.56 million under the state’s Budget 2024 for the development and growth of the three key sectors of agriculture, industries and tourism.

State Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said the state government was making efforts to increase the output and quality of agricultural products to ensure that the state’s self-sufficiency level (SSL) would continue to increase.

The efforts included implementing several initiatives to boost the rice SSL from 22 per cent this year to 31 per cent in 2025 through the re-establishment of the Padi and Rice Board with an allocation of RM1.82 million for management and administrative purposes, he said when tabling the Sabah Budget 2024 in the State Legislative Assembly here today.

"Apart from this, RM18 million has been allocated for padi field ploughing incentives. A sum of RM5.16 million is for, among other things, rehabilitation of abandoned fields, development of dry rice, increasing the number of ploughs and combine harvesters, giving fertilisers at an optimum rate and providing subsidies for padi sale,” he said.

Masidi said for the industrial sector, the state government has allocated RM124.06 million as operating and development expenditure to further boost the development of industries.

He said the rapid growth of the industrial sector in Sabah had pulled in new investments and the state now has the fifth highest foreign and domestic investments valued at RM9 billion as of the middle of this year.

In the tourism sector, Sabah has received 1.2 million tourists and an estimated revenue of RM2.45 billion as of June this year, a 69.1 per cent increase over the 708,641 visitors and RM1.19 billion revenue in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Masidi said the state government has allocated a total of RM679.85 million to manage and address the critical issue of insufficient clean water supply in the state.

"Through the Sabah State Water Supply Programme, funded by the state government, the Sabah State Water Department was allocated RM156.77 million to implement immediate and short-term solutions,” he said.

For medium and long-term water supply solutions in Tawau, Lahad Datu, Sandakan, Papar, and Kota Kinabalu, an allocation of RM258.05 million will be funded through the Federal Easy Loan Programme.

In order to enhance the coverage of treated water supply services and develop new water supply infrastructure in rural areas, a federal grant of RM135.86 million has been designated to implement the Rural Water Supply Programme through the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development, Masidi added. — Bernama