KOTA KINABALU – Incoming federal funds for development projects valued RM50 million and below should be directly transferred into the state trust fund to ensure efficient implementation, said Sabah Deputy Chief Minister III Datuk Shahelmey Yahya.
Shahelmey, who is also state works minister, said the list of projects will be released soon and job implementation will start by April.
“I have been informed by the tender board that it has the authority to manage the job tenders. However, we request for the federal government to transfer the funds into the state trust account so the projects can be implemented more efficiently.
“There are various projects such as repairs of rural roads and dilapidated schools. We are in the midst of debating the national budget in Parliament,” he told reporters after attending a Works Ministry function here last night.
The autonomy for Sabah and Sarawak to decide on development projects costing RM50 million and below was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on January 6.
It was reported that the delegation of power to technical agencies like the public works and irrigation and drainage departments was one of the demands enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi during a visit to Sabah recently did not deliberate on where the funding would go, but noted that the state and federal governments have agreed something on the matter.
Responding on infrastructure issues in Sabah, Shahelmey clarified the Public Works Department for instance was forced to list the upgrade and maintenance projects by priority due to the little funding it received from the state and federal governments.
The department only received RM17.5 million from Putrajaya for the first half of the year to fix up federal roads in Sabah, he added.
“Imagine all the federal roads we had to maintain so they remain safe for use. This amount (RM17.5 million) is not enough.
“We constantly raised this matter to the federal government, but the allocation is insufficient to upgrade all rural roads, so we have to prioritise them.”
Shahelmy said when he took the state works minister job two months ago he had been bombarded by public complaints on the infrastructure issues, especially on water supply and roads.
He said there was no need to “tapuk-tapuk” (hide) the real issues, saying that “they should not sweep everything under the carpet” as “the truth will eventually be in the open”.
On manpower for his ministry, Shahelmy said the state government has approved new hires but recruitment will take time due to the civil service’s employing process, and that fresh staff would only likely be joining in June.
Under Sabah’s 2023 budget, the state Works Ministry received the second largest allocation after the Finance Ministry with RM1.16 billion. – The Vibes, March 15, 2023
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