KOTA KINABALU, May 23 — Sabah hopes that the federal government will take up the state’s proposal to place its annual federal development funds under a trust fund to avoid losses from unused funds.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said that the funds could be channelled into the trust and be used to complete other projects instead of being brought forward into the next year’s budget.
“The state government will monitor the account to ensure that projects are carried out as intended,” said Hajiji during the question and answer session of the State Assembly sitting today.
Hajiji was answering a question from Moyog assemblyman Datuk Darell Leiking who asked the government how they intend to deal with the unused funds, which amounted to RM1.252 billion out of the total RM5.709 billion which was allocated for last year.
“We hope that the federal government considers the proposal to enable us to use the funds and develop the state efficiently,” he said.
Hajiji said that there were numerous reasons why the projects could not be completed including the inability of the contractors to manage the project either financially or administratively, utility issues, land acquisition issues, supply of raw materials, stop-work orders, and others.
To solve this problem, he said that the government will take measures to ensure that a project is highly viable at the current time and in the future.
Hajiji also said that the state will empower its Public Works Department as a technical department for the federal department and increase technical officers to help the state carry out its development projects more efficiently.
