Sabah forms special committee to oversee federal projects

 By Olivia Miwil - February 16, 2021 @ 4:42pm

Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor (left) chairing the first State Development Action Council Meeting at the state Administrative Centre in Kota Kinabalu. - Pic courtesy of Sabah Chief Minister's office

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah will form a special committee to coordinate federal projects in the state.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the decision was made after he chaired the first state Action Development Council meeting at the state Administrative Centre here.

"Today's meeting has agreed to have a special committee which will help to handle or prevent delays to projects in the state. Expired projects are a big loss for the people.

"I am hoping this committee will be able to identify issues or hiccups at the early stage and can solve these once and for all," he said in a statement.

Present at the meeting were state cabinet ministers, State Secretary Datuk Seri Safar Untong and State Federal Secretary Datuk Samsuni Mohd Nor, among others.

Hajiji, who is also state finance minister, reminded state departments and agencies to take immediate action to solve and complete all delayed projects involving schools, hospitals, electrical and water supply in rural areas in Sabah.

He added that any project that missed the deadline would also lead to incurring higher costs.

As for the allocations from the federal government, Hajiji also asked the special committee to make good use of the money for state development.

"We want to ensure the allocations are fully spent to benefit the people via development. There should not be an issue of having to return the allocation to the central government because we are not spending them."