KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 — The issue of development projects not meeting set schedules, experiencing delays and suffering from leakages has been going on for so long, causing anger and frustration among the people.
The consequences are severe — not only inconveniencing the people in accessing the facilities they deserve but also resulting in an increase in the financial burden that the government has to bear.
The Pan Borneo Highway project in Sabah, for instance, was once criticised by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who urged the project to be expedited due to its slow progress, caused by contractor issues and political interference that have compromised the people’s interests.
Yesterday, the issue of delayed projects was once again raised by Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, during the Prime Minister’s Department’s monthly assembly for January 2024.
Previous audit reports revealed that many projects were incomplete, delayed and experienced leakages, with one of the reasons being ineffective or insufficient monitoring, said Dr Mazlan Ali, a lecturer at Perdana Centre, Razak Faculty of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
Therefore, he described the prime minister’s directive for secretaries-general and department heads to present monthly progress reports on ongoing projects as demonstrating the Madani government’s commitment to ensuring that every penny from the people’s tax money is optimally utilised.
This indirectly ensures that the contractors entrusted with completing projects for public benefit adhere to the specified timeline.
Anwar also said that the reports should be submitted to the Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali, before being briefed on the matter.
Although this directive manifests Anwar’s seriousness in ensuring transparency and integrity in project development, some experts believe it would be better if these monthly reports were also accessible to the public.
Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Institution of Malay Rulers Chair fellow Mujibu Abd Muis said that such an approach would enable the people to know the progress of these projects.
Meanwhile, geostrategist Prof Dr Azmi Hassan said the prime minister could not work alone in addressing this issue and, as such, a special committee comprising civil servants and experts who are not in the government, should be established to assess these monthly reports, including monitoring the implementation of government projects.
“The problem is that while some projects have been allocated funds, their execution is extremely slow. Perhaps this is due to monitoring solely by the Economic Planning Unit or the ministry itself.
“The prime minister wants this situation to change, and I believe it is difficult for him to scrutinise these monthly reports alone. Hence, there is a need to establish this special committee,” he said, adding that the monitoring should include projects within the annual budget and the 12th Malaysia Plan.
— Bernama
