Kota Kinabalu: Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Minister Datuk Jamawi Jaafar (pic) will present the outcome of a stakeholder engagement session on the implementation of the Budi Diesel programme in Sabah to the State Cabinet to seek support for proposed improvements.
He said the engagement session, held on Wednesday, brought together heads of departments and agencies under the Sabah Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Ministry (Maffi), Federal Agriculture and Food Security Ministry (KPKM) departments operating in Sabah, Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Johan Mahmood Merican, Sabah Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN) director Shahril Nizam and other ministry officials.
Jamawi said various issues affecting Sabahans under the Budi Diesel programme, including diesel subsidy eligibility for rural school bus operators, were raised directly with the Finance Ministry, adding that Sabah's circumstances differed from those in Peninsular Malaysia due to the limited availability of conventional school bus services in rural areas.
He said he had obtained Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor's approval to hold the engagement session and would table its findings at the next State Cabinet meeting in the hope of securing support for improvements to the programme's governance and implementation.
In a Facebook post, Jamawi said the proposals included aligning the implementation of Budi Diesel with the Budi Ron95 mechanism, simplifying application procedures for vehicle owners using informal financing arrangements, increasing diesel quotas for farmers, livestock breeders, rubber tappers and food industry operators, and extending monthly cash assistance under the Budi Agri-Komoditi initiative to eligible small-scale operators.
