Luyang assemblyman Dr Hiew King Cheu should stop harping
about the state government not spending all its development allocation
under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), state Economic Planning Unit (EPU)
director Datuk Ismail Abdullah said.
Ismail in a statement yesterday
said it was regrettable that the DAP Luyang assemblyman continued with
his ill-conceived and unfounded attack on the state EPU and the state
government citing the purported written reply to his question during the
last parliamentary session that RM10.9 billion of the Ninth Malaysia
Plan development allocations were not spent.
“I do not know in what
context was his question framed and in what context the written answer
was given, if what Hiew said was true. All I know is my figures are
correct based on the official data that we have.
“There is simply
nothing ridiculous about them. It is a fact that 89 per cent was spent
during the Ninth Malaysia Plan and there is no two way about it, Ismail
said, adding: “We are being professional about the whole thing.
“I
wonder if, during his term as a member of parliament, Hiew did learn
about how development projects were planned, how projects were
evaluated, selected and approved, how ceilings and budgets for various
development projects were allocated, how projects were then executed and
monitored. It is important to understand the process and procedures as
well as terminologies and timing involved so that figures are read and
interpreted accurately in its proper context,” he added.
Ismail
further clarified that under the current 10th Malaysia Plan, spending
for the first two years were 78 per cent and 87 per cent respectively,
giving an average of 82.5 per cent. We still have roughly two and half
years to go till the end of the 10th Malaysia Plan, and implementation
will definitely intensify.
“So how come Hiew is coming up with spent
allocation as low as 36 per cent (for the whole period of the Ninth
Malaysia Plan). Is the figure not ridiculous? Isn’t Hiew being
ridiculous?” asked Ismail.
According to the director, there was no
need to ask the state EPU to check the figures as the figures are with
the state government and the federal department was concerned all the
time and the figures that the state EPU gave were established ones.
Anyway, any unspent amount or unimplemented project would definitely invite scrutiny from the Audit Department, he said.
“The
state EPU hopes that Hiew can now put the matter to rest and refrain
from making further untrue statements regarding this matter in order to
try to belittle the government,” Ismail said.
Source: Borneo Post
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