People want to know when roads will be ready, says Wee

The people want to know when rural road projects will be completed, why projects are delayed and why contractors remain unpaid, MCA president Wee Ka Siong said today.

Wee said the government should list the allocations set aside, along with how much was actually spent. The government should also provide a status update on these projects, including the percentage completed and the outstanding payments.

“Saying that a larger sum had been allocated for such projects does not answer the question of why projects were delayed and why contractors have not been paid,” said Wee in a video clip this evening in response to figures on allocations stated by Tengku Zafrul Aziz, the prime minister’s senior political advisor.

Wee said many MPs from Sabah had revealed that tenders for some 40 projects, worth RM5.14 billion, had been cancelled, while acceptance letters for projects worth RM8.096 billion had been deferred.

He urged the government to respond to these claims by providing a list of road projects that outlines their status and execution dates. “It does not matter what term has been used – whether it is cancelled or postponed – the villagers just want to know when the roads will be built,” he said.

Tengku Zafrul had said on Friday that RM3.7 billion was allocated for rural road projects from 2018 to 2022, compared to the RM11 billion allocated for 2023 to 2027. His comments followed a denial by Sabah and Sarawak affairs minister Mustapha Sakmud that some road projects in rural areas in East Malaysia had been cancelled, as alleged by deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Mustapha said these projects were put on hold because issuing acceptance letters was deferred to prevent arrears from accumulating.

Zahid, who is rural and regional development minister, told the Dewan Rakyat earlier in the week that projects in Sabah and Sarawak were cancelled on the orders of the ministry’s secretary-general, despite funds being set aside for them. Zahid did not elaborate.

On Thursday, finance minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan said the ministry had diverted funds from other agencies and programmes to cover the cost of rural roads after making commitments to more rural road spending than the amount approved since 2023, leaving contractors waiting to be paid.