THE CHALLENGES IN RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING GOVERNANCE IN SARAWAK

Infrastructure development strategies remain an integral part of Malaysia’s rural development policies and strategies. For the state of Sarawak, rural infrastructure development still remains a challenge. By using qualitative approach, relevant government agencies involved in the rural infrastructure planning process were interviewed to gather their insight on the current practice and the challenge that they faced when planning for rural infrastructure in Sarawak. This paper explores the challenges in the rural infrastructure planning practice which needs to be tackled to improve rural infrastructure delivery. The findings shows that location is a prime challenge in the rural infrastructure delivery. While in terms of governance, lack of funding and investments, lack of coordination between stakeholders, and issues in public resistance are recurring challenges. The discussion suggest that these challenges have to be taken into account and indicates that the integration of governance through policies and institutional roles needs to be emphasize in the rural infrastructure planning practice. The results of this paper intend to promote the importance of rural infrastructure planning that enables practitioners and academics to move forward to recommend a better framework for infrastructure planning in rural settlements.