KUCHING, July 18 — The Sarawak Ministry of Infrastructure and Port Development will be seeking more detailed information on the Guidelines on Public Expenditure Savings announced by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) recently.
Its minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, who is also Sarawak deputy premier, said he only found out about the matter through media reports today and was seeking more information on the matter.
“I think what is involved are (federal) projects that have not started, that are still facing problems such as land acquisition. But I will wait for the details,” he told reporters after making an inspection at the Batu Enam flyover project site here.
MOF in a Treasury Circular dated July 14 had instructed all ministries, departments, agencies, federal statutory bodies and companies limited by guarantee to implement austerity measures to optimise government spending.
Uggah, who is also Sarawak finance minister II, said the guidelines would not affect the implementation of the Pan Borneo Highway project as it was one of the most important federal government projects being implemented in Sarawak.
“Most of the development programmes that are under state funding will also not be affected by whatever policies are made from there (federal government),” he added.
In the meantime, he said the Batu Enam viaduct, which was also part of the work package under the Pan Borneo Highway project, would be fully completed within two weeks. — Bernama
