Expect some delays in completion of rural projects in Sabah due to movement restrictions, says Mahdzir Khalid

KOTA KINABALU: Some rural projects in Sabah involving roads, electricity and water supply may face some delays in completion due to earlier movement restrictions.

Rural Development Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said this was anticipated despite Sabah receiving a huge allocation of RM1.2bil from the Federal Government for rural projects for this year alone.

Mahdzir is on a three-day working visit to Sabah.

"There are of course challenges with the movement control order (MCO) and some works were postponed, as the contractors could not enter sites.

"Some projects may be delayed up to five months, let's say it is supposed to be completed this December, but it (the deadline) was pushed forward to May or June 2022, due to the Covid-19 pandemic," he told reporters after visiting the Kampung Pulau Penampang rural road upgrading project, which is 40% completed.

Mahdzir however assured that these matters had been handled by his ministry with the contractors involved, although he did not elaborate more on which projects were impacted.

On what was lined-up for Sabah since it was one of the least developed states in the country, he said more information could be announced after the tabling of Budget 2022 on Oct 29.

"We must also take into account the vastness of Sabah as a state.

"But we continually give allocations for development projects so that the state can catch up, for example villages not connected with electricity ... we have funding for installing solar panels (for power)," he added.