Kampung Gana proof of govt's concern to improve people's living standards

KOTA MARUDU: The residents of Kampung Gana, a village located in the remote area of Kota Marudu, used to have to travel for hours, sometimes for a couple of days, through woods on red muddy roads to get to town.
But now, they can breathe a sigh of relief as they only need about 30 minutes to reach the same destination.
This is the result of the ruling government's continuous concern and commitment to ensuring that the 3,000-odd villagers could enjoy a better standard of living and infrastructure, including the 26-km paved road to their village.
"The better road condition which connect the village to other areas have made it easier for the villagers to go about their daily lives and carry out economic activities," Kota Marudu district officer Arnold Joibi told Bernama.
He said aside from the road, the government had also spent millions of ringgit to implement agropolitan project to increase the income of the villagers, as well as to build schools and rural clinics to ensure that the villagers would not lag behind in education and access to healthcare.
Located about 35 km from Kota Marudu in northern Sabah, Kampung Gana is a settlement comprising 450 families from 10 villages previously located around the Lingkabau Forest Reserve, who were then relocated under the Gana Relocation Integrated Project in 1997.
On the agropolitan project, Arnold said it involved a rubber planting scheme by the Sabah Rubber Industry Board (SRIB), as well as new houses to replace the rundown homes of the residents.
He said 150 units of houses were currently being built under the project and due to be completed this year, with each recipient's family to receive one plot of land to be planted with rubber trees to help improve their economic status.
"This proves that the government is committed to making the lives of these villagers more comfortable and eventually taking them out of poverty," he said.
Housewife Lina Jalis, 34, said she was grateful to the government for its efforts to ensure that the villagers, especially the younger generation, could enjoy the fruits of development by providing basic infrastructure including electricity supply.
She was also happy that her two children have access to education and currently studying at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Gana and the pre-school set up in the village.
"The SRIB has also provided jobs to the villagers, many of the workers in the housing project are from among the villagers. So it helps to increase their income," she said.
According to pre-school teacher Honi Miaau, the pre-school education provided to children in the village meant that they are now able to read, write and count even before they enrol into primary school.
The government had brought about many changes to the area, with the most significant being the road system which meant easy travelling to the school, Honi said.
SK Gana headmaster Norbert Micheal Ligin said the construction of the primary school in the village was proof that the government was concerned about providing education to the villagers.
"The primary school is important as it has given the younger generation a chance to attain academic excellence despite living in remote areas," he said. — Bernama