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November 19, 2009 17:50 PM
Milk Production In Sabah To Reach 7.5 Million Litres This Year
KOTA KINABALU, Nov 19 (Bernama) -- Sabah is expected to produce at least 7.5 million litres of fresh milk by the end of the year, an increase of nine per cent from the total production in 2008.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Yahya Hussin, who is also Agriculture and Food Industry Minister, said that up to October this year, production of fresh milk in the state had reached 6.002 million litres.
In his winding up speech at the State Legislative Assembly today, he said the rise in fresh milk production this year was prompted by the government's move to increase the price of fresh milk from RM1.50 per litre to RM2.50 per litre since June last year.
He said the move was taken as the government was aware of the problems faced by animal breeders following the economic slowdown, where the production of fresh milk in 2008 recorded a drop of 17 per cent from the previous year to 6.88 million litres, compared with 8.56 million litres in 2007.
Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, who is also Sabah Deputy Chief Minister, said the proposed construction of a dam at Kaiduan, near here, which had received opposition from several leaders and village heads nearby, was still at the stage of being studied.
He said the project was still under further study by WCT Berhad, the company tasked with evaluating its viability.
Pairin said the state government always considered constructive views from the public on the proposed project.
As such, Pairin, who is also the Sabah Minister of Infrastructure Development, welcomed suggestions from the state assemblymen in the constituencies which might be affected including Penampang and Papar, to assist the government in finding the best way to tackle the water shortage problem.
"If the Kaiduan area is not suitable, we want to hear their views including identifying alternative areas for the dam," he said when winding up the debate on his ministry at the State Assembly sitting.
He said that a study showed the existing water supply would not be able to meet the water requirement for Kota Kinabalu and its surrounding areas by next year.
As such, the state government had proposed the construction of the dam in Kaiduan to provide adequate water supply for Kota Kinabalu and the districts of Tuaran, Penampang, Putatan and Papar up to the year 2050, he said.
Pairin said the proposed dam would only involve four villages and not 11 villages as reported in the media.
Meanwhile, Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports, Datuk Jahid Jaim said the Taman Cabaran, the RM5.3 million sports facility at the Likas Sports Complex, had been fully completed and would be operational soon.
He said the project offered numerous facilities such as rock climbing, roller blades, cycling tracks and a children's playground.
-- BERNAMA
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