SHAH ALAM, Oct 21 — The government must strengthen comprehensive regional development planning to narrow the urban-rural divide and ensure that the people benefit more equitably from economic growth.
Gombak MP Dato' Seri Amirudin Shari said national development remains concentrated in several major economic hubs, including Johor Bahru, the Klang Valley encompassing Selangor, and Penang, necessitating a more structured approach to extending the benefits of development to other regions.
“The issue now is how to spread development so that it is not concentrated in particular areas.
“This shows that the gap remains significant, and narrowing it requires comprehensive measures involving local authorities, state governments, and the federal government,” he said when debating the Supply (Budget) Bill 2027 in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Amirudin added that differences in median household income between areas such as Petaling Jaya and Sabak Bernam highlight persistent development disparities which must be addressed via a more integrated approach.
Therefore, he proposed a review of existing regional development strategies to ensure that the approaches adopted better reflected the potential and needs of individual areas.
“The development framework for regional areas, such as the East Coast Economic Region (ECER), proposed by the fifth Prime Minister (the late Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi), can be reviewed and expanded, with development pursued through approaches encompassing not only projects but also management and administration.
“It should not be limited to allocating funds to states and regions. Instead, detailed planning should identify the niches and specific activities that need to be developed in each area,” Amirudin said.
Development planning should not rely solely on the distribution of allocations; it should also identify economic activities and specialised sectors with growth potential in each region.
He noted that detailed planning is essential to ensure that development initiatives are aligned with the strengths of local human resources, land, and economic capabilities.
“Stronger national revenue is needed to enable the government to finance development sustainably, particularly in areas that continue to lag behind major growth centres.
“The effectiveness of the national development framework, including the MADANI Economy, the New Industrial Master Plan, and investment and green energy policies, should be assessed based on their ability to increase revenue and narrow regional development disparities.
“These efforts are important to ensure that economic growth is not concentrated in certain areas, but instead creates jobs, raises household incomes, and strengthens the competitiveness of regions as a whole,” he said.
The Second Selangor Plan (RS-2) focuses on balanced development across districts to ensure that economic benefits extend beyond urban centres and more developed districts (such as Petaling and Klang) to include rural areas.
Under the plan, districts including Hulu Selangor, Kuala Selangor, Sabak Bernam, and Sepang are given strategic emphasis through high-impact projects to promote more equitable socioeconomic growth.
