PUTRAJAYA: Sabah and Sarawak will have the authority to approve any development project worth RM50 million or less without needing approval from the federal level.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said such projects would not need to go through the federal government and could be decided by the state governments.
"There are Public Works Departments (PWD) in Sabah and Sarawak, but the final say (for project approvals) is mostly made in Putrajaya.
"Even though there is a large allocation, it can't be (easily) given because of bureaucracy, and they have to refer to the federal government.
"Therefore, the Finance Ministry has agreed to allow any project valued at RM50 million and below to be decided by the Sabah and Sarawak governments, complying with financial regulations.
"The decision can be made in Kuching or Kota Kinabalu without delay," he told reporters after a cabinet meeting here today.
Anwar, who is also finance minister, said this was one of the decisions made to uphold the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), apart from the announcement made to transfer regulatory control over gas supply to Sabah in December last year.
He said the power transfer would be finalised in the Sabah state assembly early next month after getting consent from the king.
He added that he would also chair the MA63 action council, with the meeting likely to be held in Kuching, Sarawak, by the end of this month.
The meeting, he said, would be attended by Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg and Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
"The working committee chaired by (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Datuk Seri) Fadillah (Yusof) will look into the allocation for Sabah and Sarawak based on Article 112D of the agreement, which stipulates that reasonable provision should be given to Sabah and Sarawak.
"The allocation should be reviewed every five years, but this has not been happening. We will be reviving this and we will try to finalise it as soon as possible in my meeting with Abang Johari and Hajiji."