Sabah to ensure 5pc tax is met

Kota Kinabalu: The State Government will monitor the collection of new State revenue for petroleum products, including from national oil and gas company Petronas, said the Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin.

The Sabah government has imposed a 5pc sales tax on petroleum products as part of new state revenue collection, starting April this year.

“To ensure that the aim and strategies of the 2021 state budget can be achieved, efforts will be made to improve financial management efficiency of the current year and to rationalise resources development.

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“The State Government will monitor the new state revenue collection for petroleum products and ensure that oil companies operating in this state, including Petronas, make tax payments accordingly,” he said when reading the government policy speech during the opening of the Sabah State Assembly meeting on Thursday (Nov 12).

Petronas paid Sarawak the RM2.95bil in State sales tax owed to the Sarawak Government in September.

Juhar also said the State Government plans to accelerate developing the state, especially in continuing the implementation of high-impact projects such as Pan Borneo Highway, Sepanggar Bay Container Port expansion, Upper Padas hydro-power and Jalan Kalabakan/ Serudong-Semanggaris construction.

“The State Government will also prioritise developing rural infrastructures and utilities such as road links, treated water supply and electricity,” he added.

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He said the Sabah government will also emphasise on “clean and environmentally friendly industries” for the industrial sector to thrive in, in line with the government’s focus on environmental conservation.

“At the same time, we are aware that the tourism sector has been badly impacted by Covid-19. The State Government will continue efforts to bring back the momentum by creating a holistic recovery framework, to be implemented once Sabah is free from the pandemic,” Juhar added.

He said towards this end, the State Government will attempt to improve environmental management as flora and fauna is the State’s biggest assets.

“The State Government is committed to continuing the policy to achieve 30pc Totally Protected Areas (TPA) statewide by 2025.

“At present, the size of forests declared as TPA has reached 1.9 million hectares or 26pc, making Sabah the State with the largest TPA in Malaysia,” he noted.