Sabah government refuted DAP's Hiew King Cheu allegations that RM10.9 Billion of fund for Sabah under 9th Malaysian Plain was not spent.

Source : Sabah Chief Minister Department Department

THE ALLEGATION BY LUYANG DAP ASSEMBLYMAN THAT HUGE AMOUNT OF 9TH MALAYSIA PLAN FEDERAL DEVELOPMENT ALLOCATIONS HAD REMAINED UNSPENT
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In a statement issued by the State Economic Planning Unit, Sabah, its Director, Datuk Ismail Abdullah, refuted allegations made by DAP Luyang Assemblyman, Hiew King Cheu that RM10.9 billion of federal development funds approved for Sabah under the 9th Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) was not spent.

'This is totally untrue', said Datuk Ismail. 'Hiew should check his facts and figures carefully before making such statement. Such unfounded allegation is misleading, and can be construed as being ill intentioned and meant to create a negative perception in people's mind that the State and Federal Governments are not serious about developing the Sabah.'

Hiew, in a twist to Datuk Jumat Idris's, the new Sepanggar MP's public criticism of Datuk Abidin Mandingkir, Kota Kinabalu City Mayor over his handling of development funds, said that out of RM16.9 billion of development allocations approved under the 9th Malaysia Plan, RM10.09 billion remained unspent. He also alleged that only 2,056 out of 3,690 development projects were completed.

The State EPU wished to set the record straight. According to Datuk Ismail Abdullah, the total development allocation approved for Sabah by the federal government during the 9th Malaysia Plan was in fact RM19.8 billion. This amount was for a total of 3,193 projects. Out of the total amount approved, 89% or RM17.69 billion was spent by the end of the 9th Malaysia Plan period. Meanwhile, out of the total projects approved, 2,511 projects (or 78.64%) were successfully implemented and completed, 678 projects were still in progress by the end of the plan period and carried over to the 10th Malaysia Plan, and nearly all had already been completed by now. Only 4 projects had not been implemented by the end of 2010 and was still at planning stage.

'89 % is an excellent achievement, and high by any standard because project planning and implementation has a very dynamic environment, and in a lot of cases, fraught with unforeseen implementation issues'.

For the first 3 years of the 10th Malaysia Plan, Sabah was allocated RM13.54 billion and 68% has been spent so far.

The State Government and YAB Ketua Menteri as Chairman of the State Action Council monitored the implementation progress of all development projects in the State very closely to ensure timely completion of projects and programs. In fact, YAB Ketua Menteri is constantly reminding heads of state and federal departments in Sabah to be fast and diligent in implementing development projects.

‘YAB Datuk Musa Haji Aman is a real task master. He simply has a very low tolerance for any inefficiency and complacency especially when it comes to the implementation of development projects for the rakyat', said Datuk Ismail.

At the same time, the federal government is constantly fine-tuning coordination and implementation process and procedures to ensure smoother implementation of projects.