MORE THAN A YEAR LATER, RM320MIL TO SOLVE SABAH’S WATER WOES NOT USED YET

PETALING JAYA: The RM320 million allocated by Putrajaya to expedite water supply projects in Sabah has yet to be used after more than a year, says deputy chief minister Shahelmey Yahya.

Shahelmey said the latest update was that the federal works ministry had exempted value engineering from the pre-procurement process, The Borneo Post reported.

This means Sabah can now hold procurement tenders, he said, and the federal funds will then be channelled so that the letters of acceptance of tender can be issued.

Shahelmey, who is also the state works minister, said the delays were caused by matters related to “management” in the initial phase that needed to be complied with.

“It has been more than a year since the allocation was announced last year in June.

“There were adjustments to titles and the separation or combination of projects, and many other issues. These are among the bureaucracy that we faced. Thankfully, that has been settled, so the tender procurement process can, hopefully, go smoothly,” he was quoted as saying.

On June 1, 2023, Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor announced that the federal government had approved RM320.25 million to help the state tackle its water supply issues.

The government had allocated the funds for six programmes targeting nine districts – Kota Kinabalu, Tuaran, Putatan, Papar, Beaufort, Keningau, Tawau, Lahad Datu and Sandakan.

2024-07-20T14:11:21Z