MELAKA: The Housing and Local Government Ministry (KPKT) has reminded all agencies under it, especially local authorities, to implement all projects with allocations in a prudent and transparent manner and in compliance with the set standards.
Its minister, Nga Kor Ming said this was because each state, through its local authorities, received a significant allocation from the ministry to implement projects with vital roles in developing communities in its areas.
"In conjunction with the announcement of such big allocations today, I want to relay a message to the four local authorities in Melaka that we (the ministry) will monitor how the authorities will use the money (allocated) and I want to stress that every sen allocated needs to comply with Cost-Benefit Analysis.
"We don’t want cases where a garbage bin costs RM100 but the local authority buys it at RM500 and if this continues, next year we will cut the allocation, and I won’t even provide a single sen,” he said during a media conference after visiting the Sultan Muhammad Food Court in Batu Berendam as part of the ministry's Sentuhan Kasih programme, which was also attended by Melaka Housing and Local Government, Drainage, Climate Change and Disaster Management Committee senior chairman Datuk Rais Yasin.
He also said that allocations were based on the local authority’s performance and stern action will be taken if any local authority fails to achieve the set performance.
"Previously, there were claims of not receiving allocations but now they have been given... so there’s no more excuses.
"If you don’t perform, we will issue a caution letter to the officer responsible and allocations for the next year will be cut as a message that they need to reach their performance,” he said, adding that all projects requested or implemented by the local authorities need to have a return on investment.
He also asked all mayors and council presidents to look for high impact projects capable of bringing maximum returns to the people.
Nga had earlier announced allocations of RM83.66mil to Melaka to realise 17 projects of vital importance to the community development of the state.
The allocations were for new and existing projects, and are the biggest in the history of Melaka, with the highest percentage earmarked for the new Rumah Mesra Rakyat (RMR) housing programme, totalling RM22.31mil. - Bernama
