It took Ba' Kelalan state assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining seven hours to reach Lawas from the remote settlement of Ba'Kelalan last Tuesday (18 Nov).

The deplorable condition of the long and tedious 120km winding timber road -- passable only by four-wheel drive vehicles -- coupled with the bad weather, did not make maters any easier.

Such a journey is a typical experience for most rural residents in remote places like Ba'Kelalan in northern Sarawak, which otherwise could only be reached via a 55-minute flight by MASWings from Miri.

At the height of the global fuel hike, the government provided transport subsidy to encourage more rural folks to visit the nearest towns and bazaars, which acted as rural growth centres (RGCs) to stimulate economic growth in Sarawak's rural areas.

In an interview with Bernama, Balang said that in the case of Ba'Kelalan and other areas under his state constituency, the district office appointed a few people as authorised transporters of petrol and diesel supplies to these interiors, often a stone's throw from the Kalimantan-Indonesian border.

In announcing the fifth downward revision made by the Federal Government since August this year, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had said that petrol and diesel would be sold at 15 sen cheaper, effective Tuesday, in tandem with cheaper global oil prices.

But in welcoming the fuel reduction, Balang said it was important that the enforcement authorities should regularly visit the rural areas to monitor the prices of consumer goods, which were likely to be inflated by the traders due to transportation costs.

Citing the new retail price of RM1.90 a litre for RON92 petrol and diesel as an example, he said, the normal practice would be for the authorised transporters to buy the fuel at that price from the nearest gas station in Lawas and sell it at between RM2-RM2.20 per litre once it reached Ba'Kelalan.

He said several villages in his constutuency, including Long Lelang, Bario, Ba'Kelalan, Long Semadoh and Long Sukang with its Lun Bawang, Kelabit and Penan communities, still depended on diesel generators for their electricity supply.

Power supply to village schools were also sourced from generators, with expenses borne by the education department, he said.

"Some of the villages need not worry about it (fuel-generated power) now," said Balang, who was in Ba'Kelalan to launch the micro-hydro dam electrification system being organised by the Rotary Club International to benefit about 40 households in Buduk Bui.

Meanwhile, rural resident William Chendang, from Nanga Pila, a 28-door Iban longhouse about 80km upstream from Kapit, hoped the latest fuel reduction would make a difference in his transport expenditure when making regular trips to town.

For a single trip to Kapit town, he said he needed to utilise about 25 litres of diesel for his 40-horse power outboat to navigate the Batang Rajang while it would cost him a fare of RM30 per person by express boat from his longhouse.

Known as the last bastion of riverine transport, Kapit -- despite being the administrative centre for Sarawak's central region -- remains the only place inaccessible by road. (By CAROLINE JACKSON/ Bernama)