Explain why contractors left unpaid if budget not overspent, DAP MP tells Zahid

 

Kampar MP Chong Zhemin has urged Rural and Regional Development Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to explain apparent contradictory claims regarding the ministry’s spending.

He challenged Zahid’s denial that the ministry did not spend beyond its approved budget, pointing to the latter’s earlier complaints that its contractors were not being paid.

"If the ministry did not overspend or overcommit its annual allocation, why were contractors who had completed government projects left unpaid?

"The Finance Ministry has stated clearly that there was no restriction on the Rural and Regional Development Ministry’s allocation for rural road projects and that the entire approved allocation had been released.

"The Finance Ministry also explained that payments to contractors were delayed because the allocation for the current year had already been almost fully spent.

"Therefore, Zahid cannot continue blaming others for failing to channel the money. He must explain why his ministry ran out of funds to pay contractors despite receiving its entire approved allocation," Chong said in a statement.

Chong's statement came amid a public dispute between ministries that began last Monday when Zahid, who is also the deputy prime minister, vented his frustration over funding disbursements during his ministry’s monthly assembly.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi

Urging the Finance Ministry to expedite payments, Zahid said many contractors have completed their projects and achieved milestones but are left without payment, with some having been forced out of business due to cash flow issues.

In response, Treasury secretary-general Johan Mahmood Merican said there are no sanctions imposed on the Rural and Regional Development Ministry’s allocation for rural roads, which has already been fully disbursed.

He also painted the Rural and Regional Development Ministry as consistently going over budget, adding that the Finance Ministry is working to identify cost savings in other ministries to support the Rural and Regional Development Ministry’s excesses.

‘Narrow definition’

Chong in his statement also lambasted Zahid for what he described as the latter's "narrow definition" of expenditure.

The DAP representative pointed out that while unpaid contractor claims might not yet be recorded as actual expenditure, they remain financial liabilities incurred by the government.

"Zahid must distinguish between actual payments already recorded, contractual commitments already entered into and valid claims that remain unpaid.

"Keeping contractor claims unpaid may prevent the accounting system from recording expenditure above the available allocation, but it does not erase the government’s liability to those contractors," he said.

Chong also called upon Zahid to explain why contractors were not paid if his ministry had sufficient allocation and there was no funding shortfall. - Mkini