KOTA BARU: Delay in the land acquisition process was identified as one of the factors causing projects approved by the Federal government for Kelantan to not be completed within the stipulated period.
Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar said the state government needs to ensure that land for the construction site is settled when a project is approved.
He said the problem occurs when a project has been approved, but the land is not yet ready.
"We continue with the land acquisition, and the land acquisition process will take a long time. At the same time, we also have to solve utility issues including electricity and the piping system, and this will also take time," he said.
He told this to reporters after delivering his leadership aspiration mandate to more than 1,200 Federal and Kelantan State Public Service servants today. Shamsul Azri said another reason that contributed to the project delays was the failure to plan properly when entering site projects.
"However, all these problems are under control and they can be solved through the cooperation of federal and state government agencies, including local authorities," he said.
He said the Federal government has approved projects worth RM2.8 billion for Kelantan. The amount, he said, was among RM25.9 billion approved throughout the country under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP). As of Dec 16, a total of 454 projects, including 92 new projects, all worth about RM25.9 billion, were approved by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) for the Rolling Plan 4 of the 12MP.
"Expenditure performance for the Rolling Plan 4 development project of the 12MP in Kelantan based on the original provision of MOF Year 2024 is at 84.98 percent, lower than the national level expenditure performance which is 88.22 percent. To date, the performance of expenditure for the federal projects in Kelantan is quite persuasive but needs some solutions to overcome challenges in the pre-implementation stage of the project," he added.
On another note, Shamsul Azri said the reform of the public service in Malaysia needs to be accelerated by taking into account the post-normal challenges marked by the 3Cs namely Complexity, Chaos, and Contradiction.
"As a country towards the goal of high income, public sector reform needs to ensure that high-performing public servants are equipped with the best skills, values, and work ethics. Public services must be people-centric by improving efficiency, encouraging innovation, and strengthening the governance ecosystem," he said.