12MP: 171 physical projects completed, remaining 865 at various stages of implementation, says Uggah

KUCHING (Nov 29): A total of 171 or 17 per cent out of 1,036 physical projects under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) have been completed, said Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

The Second Finance and New Economy Minister said the remaining 865 projects are at various stages of implementation.

“The slow progress in many of these projects was mainly due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic over the last three years.

“However, the pace of project implementation now is already in full swing as the economy has been opening up since early last year,” he said when winding up his ministerial speech at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Sitting here today.

The Deputy Premier said at the outset of the 12MP, a ceiling of RM30 billion had been approved to fund 1,104 development projects across Sarawak.

“Following a mid-term review this year and to align with the objectives of the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030 (PCDS 2030), the Sarawak government had raised the 12MP ceiling to RM38 billion.

“The increase aims to accelerate the development momentum in the state as to ensure realisation of our strategic economic agenda comes 2030 are achieved,” he said.

He said the increased 12MP ceiling also enabled the implementation of more strategic development projects with the goal of ultimately benefiting the rakyat.

“The number of approved projects has increased from 1,104 to 1,433, with 72 per cent or 1,036 being physical projects and 28 per cent or 397 being non-physical, including grants, contributions, investments, programmes, and events,” he said.

He noted that the cumulative expenditure from the year 2021 to October 2023 stood at RM16.9 billion, or 45 per cent of the Sarawak 12MP’s revised ceiling of RM38 billion.

“The expenditure is expected to increase further as the project activities continue progressing,” he added.

On federal state-funded projects, Uggah said under the Third Rolling Plan of the federal 12MP (RP3 12MP), an allocation of RM5.69 billion had been approved for the implementation of 1,038 projects.

“Up to the third quarter of 2023, 55 per cent or RM3.12 billion of the allocation was spent. All these projects are at various stages of implementation,” he said.

Uggah also informed the august House on the progress of rural transformation projects (RTP) where as of October this year, 4,145 projects or 54 per cent of projects had been completed, while the remaining 3,586 projects or 46 per cent are at various stages of implementation.

“A total of RM436.4 million or 34 per cent out of the RM1.29 billion approved ceiling was spent between the year 2021 to October 2023.

“Since the introduction of RTP in 2015, over 20,400 projects have been implemented, which have benefitted the rakyat, especially those in the rural areas,” he said.

He said despite numerous challenges, including rising construction materials prices and a labour supply shortage, the projects’ implementation had made significant progress, with overall 2023 financial performance of RM5.7 billion or 71 per cent achieved to date.

“Nonetheless, I wish to point out that there are certain ministries recording a fairly low execution performance of less than 30 per cent for the almost entire year despite the availability of fund.

“In this regard, I would like to remind these ministries to address issues that hinders the project implementation and where necessary, to review their processes and procedures in ensuring that these projects can be delivered timely and effectively,” he remarked.

He also urged all controlling officers and their implementing agencies to step up their efforts in ensuring that all projects under their purview are implemented expeditiously and that the approved budget for this year is progressively spent.

“This is crucial to spur our economic growth and provide well developed infrastructures towards improving the livelihood of our rakyat,” said Uggah.