WEAK execution has been identified as the primary reason why RM1.5 billion worth of water supply projects had failed to take off in Sabah and Sarawak since 2016.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusuf said the latest Auditor General Report on the projects that had failed to take off in the Borneo states are being looked into.
"Urgent attention must be given to make sure these projects are executed soonest as this involves the wellbeing of a lot of rural people.
"So far, the weaknesses identified are at the project execution stage, and not due to any abuses.
"The federal and state ministries are probing these unfinished projects now with the view to get them executed the soonest," he said after attending a function near Kuching today.
Sarawak Minister for Public Utilities and Telecommunications Datuk Julaihi Narawi meanwhile confirmed that the delayed projects in Sarawak are worth about RM890 million.
Julaihi said bureaucratic red tape had caused the delays.
"These projects are federally funded but due to bureaucratic red-tape, their execution had failed to take off in Sarawak," he said in a press statement.
He did not explain why this issue had gone unresolved since 2016.
A Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) leader had said the state authorities must give an explanation to the public on the details of the RM1.5 billion worth of rural water supply projects approved by the Federal Government for Sabah and Sarawak.
Senator Abun Sui Anyit, who is Sarawak PH information chief said the report stated that there were 36 water supply projects not carried out in Sarawak and Sabah since 2016 despite the approved federal allocations.
The AG Report 2024 said the 36 projects had failed to meet its objectives of helping the rakyat as the state authorities had not ensured their proper execution on the ground.
Sui said the latest revelation from the AG Report confirms the realities on the ground that many rural folk in Sarawak (and Sabah) are still deprived of treated water which is the most basic of daily necessities.
Sarawak has a population of about three million.
Out of this, about one million are rural folk living in about 6,000 settlements scattered throughout this vast state. – July 7, 2024.
