KOTA KINABALU – Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor issued a stern directive today to all department heads and district officers to speed up the implementation of federal development projects in Sabah.
The chief minister stressed that all the officials must take note of the issues impeding implementation, and do their best to implement and complete the pending projects this year.
Hajiji said this during the State Development Action Council meeting at Menara Kinabalu near here today. He ordered department heads and district officers to submit detailed progress reports at the next meeting this September.
Sabah had been allocated RM6.05 billion in the national budget for this year, the third highest in the country after the Federal Territories and Selangor.
However, under the Third Rolling Plan of the 12th Malaysia Plan, only 21.61% of the 1,181 projects for the state have been implemented.
With time running out fast, Hajiji said the state has proposed setting up a trust fund where unused allocations for the year can be kept for the coming year.
The meeting was told that based on MyProjek data as of June 12, 2023, some 141 projects – costing below RM50 million each and worth a total of RM1.6 billion – will be delegated to the state government through the federal public works and irrigation and drainage departments.
“In this respect, I urge all State Development Action Council committee members to take heed of this and do the necessary, reminding all that the prime minister in his address to the state and federal civil service last February had given six months to see the efficacy of the move,” said Hajiji.
“There should be no more excuses of waiting for approval from the federal government as the reason for projects being delayed. The rakyat and the government will be on the losing end if there is a delay in implementing approved projects.”
Hajiji also urged the various department heads and district officers to realise the zero-hardcore poor agenda by the end of this year as propounded by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“I want all district officers to go down to the ground and verify the details of those categorised as hardcore poor in their respective areas. We want their actual status to be recorded,” he said.
He stressed that relevant departments weighed down with sick projects must terminate non-performing contractors who had hindered the projects’ completion.
Among the sick projects were those under the education and health ministries.
Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz, director-general of the implementation and coordination unit in the Prime Minister’s Department, also attended the meeting.
Also present were deputy chief ministers Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan, Datuk Seri Dr Joachim Gunsalam, and Datuk Shahelmey Yahya; state Community Development and People’s Well-being Minister Datuk James Ratib; Tourism, Culture, and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew; Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ellron Angin; State Secretary Datuk Seri Safar Untong; and Sabah Development Officer Samsul Dollah. – The Vibes, June 20, 2023
