Money for road maintenance used to pay electricity bills

By Simon Peter

KUCHING, June 17, 2014: Serian District Council (SDC) was allocated with a sum of RM253,501 by the Finance Ministry for road maintenance and upgrading of roads, cutting grass, painting road signs and cleaning streets, but instead, the money was spent on something else.

A check by the Audit Department revealed that the sum was used for paying electricity bills, putting up logos and flags, renovating bus stops, building stages, putting down advertisement boards and buying office stationary.

This is clearly a case of using the taxpayers' money not in accordance with the original purpose for which it was applied for.

The fund was approved under the Malaysian Roads Record Information System (MARRIS).

According to the second series of the Auditor-General Report, the feedback received from the council on March 28, 2014 indicated that the council did not have enough fund and that explained why it used the MARRIS fund for other purposes.

The AG reminded the council to use the allocations for which it was intended for, not on something else.

The AG Report also touched on the construction of the Kota Samarahan Bus Terminal at a cost of RM2 million.

The construction, based on the Design, Build and Deferred Payment concept, started on Nov 28, 2012 and was completed on May 25, 2013.

The terminal has four counters for the sale of tickets, an office space and retail outlet.

As of March 2014, only three counters have been rented out to bus companies at a rate of RM150 a month for each counter,  the office space was rented out for RM600 a month and the retail out was rented out for RM450 a month.

A visit by the Audit Department on Feb 10, 2014 revealed that all the tenants have yet to use the bus terminal while the existing bus companies are still using the old terminal, next to the Ferry Point at Kota Samarahan.

The AG said that the location of the new bus terminal is found to be not on the routes of the buses operating in Kota Samarahan.

The AG said that based on the feedback from the Samarahan District Council received on May 22, 2014, action has already been taken to order the tenants and the bus companies to start operating at the new terminal.