Chee How takes a swipe at Jabu's Ministry

KUCHING, Nov 13, 2014: Batu Lintang state lawmaker See Chee How takes a swipe at the Sarawak Ministry of Rural Development over the unsatisfactory implementation of the rural growth centres (RGCs).

He said the ministry, whose minister is Alfred Jabu Numpang, has come under the microscope of the Auditor-General who highlighted such issues as delays in the implementation, lack of response from the local community brought about by locality issues as well as poor facilities maintenance.

"It was concerned that the Impact studies on Rural Growth Centre (RGC) development programmes -- to evaluate the achievement and success of the State Government’s efforts -- was not carried out yet even though the implementing period has reached 18 years," See said when debating the State Budget in the State Assembly today.

He added:"It was also found that a project that is still in the process of implementation has been delayed for more than four years."

"Further, the usage and maintenance of public facilities in six out of eight RGCs visited need to be improved, while two of them --  RGCs Semop and Opar --  still saw no public facilities being constructed yet.

"And the Honourable Minister (Alfred Jabu) certainly must answer an important allegation in the AG’s Report that the allocation received for the development of RGCs from the 6th to 10th Malaysia Plan totalled RM385.86 million and the actual expenditure as of May 2014 amounting to RM223.79 million," See added.

On projects implemented by the Department of Irrigation and Drainage, See said the AG Report commented that project implementation was not satisfactory due to poor project management under flood mitigation plan (FMP), rural roads (RR) and Sarawak's irrigation scheme (SIS).

"This led to two projects not achieving its objectives, consequentially increasing project costs by RM4.42 million or 57.8% of the original contract costs due to re-tender," he said.

He said the report pointed out that detailed preliminary study was not performed thoroughly though the most critical problem on land condition has been identified during the soil investigation by the consultant resulted in the methods used for two FMP projects were inappropriate.

He said there were also weaknesses in the implementation and monitoring of two RR projects, one SIS project and two FMP projects.

"The original purpose of dredging with an expenditure of RM10.25 million at the confluence of Batang Rajang near Kerto Island, Sibu Division to address the flood problem was not achieved because dredging was ineffective.

"Further, the initial objective to make Sebalak River Rice Irrigation Scheme, Betong as the rice bowl costing RM70.76 million has yet to realise because the area is not gazetted," he added.

See also said the state's investment in sago plantation project undertaken by Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA) since 1987 with a target to develop 250,000 hectares of sago plantation by year 2020 also performed unsatisfactorily because “the objectives have yet to be achieved after 26 years of implementation”.

"Until end of 2013, an allocation amounting to RM266.81 million has been received from the State Government for sago plantation project in Mukah Division. From 2011 to 2013, allocation totalling RM93.21 million has been received and RM32.76 million was spent."

he said the AG Report pointed out that the intensive study was conducted only after the rehabilitation programme failed, and the research findings have yet to be used to improve the performance of sago plantation.

The State Government loans to the company was still unpaid, and the purchase of excavators have exceeded the requirements, he pointed out.