KUCHING: The Sarawak government will allocate an additional RM10mil to the Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) this year, bringing the total to RM120mil.
Deputy Premier Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas said the extra funds would go towards mission schools to help equip them for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects.
"We will discuss with the schools about using the RM10mil for purchasing smart boards and similar facilities instead of building projects.
"Sarawak is starting free tertiary education at state-owned universities this year and we want students from mission schools to have the opportunity to study the relevant subjects," he said when presenting Unifor funds to houses of worship here on Tuesday (Jan 27).
The handover involved RM13.63mil for 71 projects and represented the final phase of disbursement for last year.
Uggah also said the allocation for non-Muslim houses of worship would be maintained at RM90mil this year.
He advised houses of worship to submit their funding applications by the end of February at the latest to expedite the process.
"We plan to issue the cheques by June," he said.
Uggah reminded the recipients to spend their funds as planned and to submit progress reports to Unifor.
He said 285 out of 309 projects which received Unifor funding last year had not submitted their reports.
"Maybe some of them have just received the funds. But we are monitoring them," he said, adding that Unifor would not consider new applications from houses of worship which failed to submit reports for previous projects.
Uggah also said the Public Works Department (JKR) will help Unifor verify the project sums applied for, based on its bill of quantities itemising the cost of materials.
He said Unifor had previously received applications involving high project amounts.
"JKR will give us quantity surveyors and architects to do the assessment. JKR has a bill of quantities, so they cannot deviate from that figure," he said.
