“I am committed to settle the problems,” he said when tabling the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) today.

Among the issues that will be addressed for the benefit of Sabah and Sarawak are basic infrastructure projects, gas and electricity supply, digitalisation, reducing poverty, and closing the income gap.

On basic infrastructure, he said additional bridges would be built, over 1,400km of rural roads would be resurfaced, and the Pan Borneo Highway project would be completed.

The government had recently announced that it would allocate RM7.7 billion to the Borneo states – RM3.61 billion for Sabah and RM4.09 billion for Sarawak.

He also said that health services would be upgraded with Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) being upgraded to university hospitals, as well as the setting up of 26 clinics in the two states.

New homes would be built and upgrading work for old homes involving 26,000 families would also be carried out, he said.

With the various new measures under 12MP, Ismail said the gross domestic product (GDP) would increase by 6.5% for Sabah and 5.3% for Sarawak, respectively.

The rural economy of Sabah and Sarawak would also be boosted by e-commerce smart agricultural techniques.

“Some RM301 million has also been allocated for smaller rural projects and another RM1.6 billion for roads to connect rural areas and towns.

“Efforts will also be in place to ensure clean water supply to 98% of the population and better electricity supply would also be carried out,” he said.