KOTA KINABALU: The government, through the Rural and Regional Development Ministry, has allocated RM1.06bil to develop 224 infrastructure projects in Sabah this year, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Rural and Regional Development Minister, said the projects included roads, bridges, water supply, electricity supply and area development projects in rural areas.

He said experience showed that many projects faced implementation constraints in Sabah, hence close cooperation between the federal and state governments was important to overcome the challenges.

“The Prime Minister has decided that projects up to RM50mil will be implemented by the state government and those above RM50mil by the ministry, with the Public Works Department as the implementing agency. This coordination must be done.

“This is so that stakeholders feel there is coordination between the state government and the ministry.

“That’s why we called for a meeting to coordinate between the minister and exco members overseeing rural areas so that we can collectively help in implementing these projects,” he said after chairing a coordination meeting with rural exco members, Bernama reported.

The meeting was also attended by Sabah Rural Development Minister Datuk Jahid Jahim.

“We have presented existing physical projects to the state government for implementation; they must be monitored for speedy completion and we must find ways to expedite them without disregarding the government’s established procedures,” added Ahmad Zahid.

Citing an example, he said an approved project might only be implemented after two to three years due to various factors such as consultations and lengthy open tenders.

He said there were projects approved before the Madani government that still could not be implemented because the procedures used were not transparent.

Ahmad Zahid also said the development allocation for rural exco members had been increased to RM750,000 this year from RM500,000 last year to ensure that rural residents continually benefit from government-planned programmes.

He said the meeting also involved representatives from the National Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to coordinate efforts in TVET education and disseminate it widely to children in rural areas.

“The response to TVET is extraordinary. The employability rate for TVET graduates at the national level is 94.5%, while for graduates of the ministry’s institutions is at 98.7%, meaning our courses are suitable for market demand,” he said.

At the meeting, four papers were presented: the Bumiputera Economic Congress Outcome Paper, the Rural Water Supply Paper, the Sejati Madani Programme Paper and Phase 2 of the National Digital Network Implementation Paper.

Meanwhile, the ministry said in a statement that it had received a total allocation of RM1.41bil for Sabah, with RM1.06bil for infrastructure projects.

This was an increase of RM290.1mil or 20% compared to last year.

“This is the highest allocation among the states. This allocation involves 295 programmes or projects, 70 of them new ones and the rest, continuation of previous programmes and projects with a total cost under the 12th Malaysia Plan amounting to RM17.8bil,” it said.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/05/11/rm1bil-for-224-infrastructure-projects-in-sabah