The Rajang Delta Development Agency, known as RADDA, is a Sarawak government body. It plans and funds rural projects across the Sarikei and Mukah divisions. It was announced in June 2022 with an allocation of RM1.5 billion, and Bernama reported at the time that the Betong Development Agency got the same amount on the same day. Most of what it has named since then is local: village roads, water mains, waterfronts and a ferry link. The large bridges in the delta are built under a separate state programme.

Why Sarawak created an agency for the delta

Premier Abang Johari Tun Openg announced RADDA on 19 June 2022. He described it as a development strategy for rural areas, not towns, because towns already have basic facilities and councils of their own. Datuk Len Talif Salleh, then Deputy Minister of Urban Planning, Land Administration and Environment, was named its chairman.

Six weeks later RADDA held a three-day development lab in Sibu. According to Bernama's report of 1 August 2022, about 200 people took part, drawn from ministries, departments and agencies and from community leaders in the 11 state constituencies of the Sarikei and Mukah divisions. The report gave the agency's area as about 11,000 square kilometres. Len Talif said the lab was there to stop RADDA's projects duplicating work other agencies had already planned, and to fill the gaps those agencies left.

Which areas fall under RADDA

The agency covers districts in two divisions. Official statements have named these places as inside it:

  • Sarikei, Bintangor and Tanjung Manis, named by the Premier at the 2025 state-level National Day celebration in Sarikei (Premier's Office)
  • Julau, covering the Pakan and Meluan state seats, which the Premier placed within RADDA in November 2022, when he also announced RM74 million for a Julau water supply project to be carried out by the Rural Water Supply Department
  • Daro in the Mukah division. In September 2023 the Premier said Daro would be brought into the agency's overall plan, including a 6.8-kilometre dual carriageway from the Lassa bridge to a proposed new Daro urban area
  • Dalat, where the Premier spoke of RADDA in May 2024 and listed its first priorities as roads, bridges, electricity and water

How much money it has, and why the figures differ

The RM1.5 billion figure has been repeated for two years. Len Talif gave it in August 2022, and the Premier repeated it in May 2024.

Other statements give other numbers. After a state development coordination meeting in Mukah in August 2024, the Premier said RADDA had a mandate to carry out projects worth RM705 million. At the same meeting he said the Ministry of Infrastructure and Port Development was carrying out RM2.32 billion of work in the Mukah division, including the Igan, Paloh and Lassa bridges. The sources do not explain how the RM705 million relates to the RM1.5 billion.

The named projects so far

The most detailed list comes from Bintangor. In January 2025 Meradong assemblyman Datuk Ding Kuong Hiing set out the RADDA projects in the town:

  • an alternative route from Jalan Kilang to Jalan Janting, RM8 million
  • a main water pipeline from Jalan Kelupu to the Tulai booster station, RM10 million
  • an upgrade of Bintangor's water reticulation system, RM25 million
  • a two-storey multipurpose hall, RM18 million
  • an upgrade of Bintangor Recreation Park, RM4 million

In the same statement he said the state government had approved RM41 million for the Bintangor Waterfront.

Near Sarikei town, the road to SK Muara Payang is being built under RADDA by the Department of Irrigation and Drainage. In April 2025, according to UKAS, 51 landowners received RM644,995.60 in compensation for the land it needs. The road is seven kilometres long and costs RM45 million. It crosses 91 lots covering 32.72 hectares, and serves Kampung Bugis, Bukit Huang and the Muara Payang scheme, which can only be reached by the Batang Rajang. Len Talif said a RM24 million ferry link would follow, giving the area a route to Sarikei through Tanah Putih.

The Sarikei Waterfront is also a RADDA project. It is to be built in phases, according to Sarikei MP Dato' Sri Huang Tiong Sii, speaking to UKAS in August 2025. No cost or timetable was given.

What RADDA does not build

The largest structures in the delta are not RADDA projects. They are bridges on the coastal road, built by the state's infrastructure ministry. The Batang Rajang bridge near Sarikei, officially named the Tun Datuk Patinggi Tuanku Haji Bujang bin Tuanku Othman Bridge, is 1.4 kilometres long, cost RM321 million and was opened on 17 May 2025. The Igan, Paloh and Lassa bridges in the Mukah division are part of the same ministry's RM2.32 billion programme there.

RADDA's road plans connect to these bridges. The Daro dual carriageway, for example, starts at the Lassa bridge.

What the agency is meant to lead to

At the 2025 National Day celebration in Sarikei, the Premier linked RADDA to the Tanjung Manis Economic Growth Area, a master plan that combines agriculture, logistics, tourism and green technology. He also cited a pioneer rice project at Tanjung Manis covering 260 acres that gets two harvests a year at about four tonnes a hectare, and said an agropark had been set up in Sarikei.

Sources