KOTA KINABALU, Nov 9 — The Sabah government is proposing to set up a Regional Development Authority (RDA) to manage the new border township at Serudong, Kalabakan that will be one of four entry points from Kalimantan to Sabah in preparation for the imminent relocation of the Indonesian capital.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the proposal for the Sabah Maju Jaya Serudong Regional Development Authority will be tabled during the State Budget 2022 assembly sitting in December.
“The state government is committed to ensuring that the border township will be developed as planned, in anticipation of major developments that will take place with Indonesia’s plan to move its capital to East Kalimantan.
“The border township will include industrial and commercial zones, housing and other facilities to be developed around the Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and Security (CIQS) centre,” he said.
The development of the CIQS centre at the Malaysia-Indonesia border will be funded by the federal government, as mentioned by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob during the tabling of the 12th Malaysia Plan last September.
The other entry points are at Long Pasia, Pagalungan and Sebatik.
Hajiji said Sabah-Kalimantan border developments will be among the talking points when the prime minister meets Indonesia President Joko Widodo during his official visit to the republic.
Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (Sedia) Director of Border Town Planning, Mursidi Sapie said among the RDA’s functions are acting as the local authority as well as overseeing infrastructure, economic and social developments.
He said this during a briefing with Hajiji and members of the Sabah Economic Advisory Council on the Serudong (Malaysia)-Simanggaris (Indonesia) border conceptual plan at Menara Kinabalu near here today.
