'Postponed indefinitely' means cancelled, right? Zahid's aide quizzes MOF over rural road projects

 

The Finance Ministry should clarify the status of rural road projects that have been postponed indefinitely, said Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s aide at the Rural and Regional Development Ministry.

Fadzmel Fadzil, who is Zahid’s press secretary at his ministry, noted the Finance Ministry’s claim that the project had not been cancelled.

“What many do not know is that the letter dated Sept 10, 2026, from the Finance Ministry clearly directed expenditure control measures. Not a single sen of outstanding arrears was released, and funds that had already been approved were ordered to be ‘postponed’.

“That is why we want the Finance Ministry to answer: postponed until when? ‘Postponed without a date’ effectively means ‘cancelled’,” he said in a Facebook post today.

Yesterday, during the Finance Ministry's winding-up speech on Budget 2027 in Parliament, Finance Minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan emphasised that the rural road projects have not been cancelled as claimed, but new letters of acceptance have been postponed.

Finance Minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan

Amir said the decision was to allow the ministry space to settle outstanding commitments before issuing new acceptance letters.

He also clarified that the actual expenditure of rural road projects from 2023 to 2027 totalled RM11 billion, far higher than the RM3.7 billion spent between 2018 and 2022.

Amir added that these figures prove that expenditure on rural road development has increased nearly threefold compared to the previous five years.

Disruptive uncertainty

Meanwhile, Fadzmel noted that having an implementation date is crucial as the Rural and Regional Development Ministry needs to prepare a list of new development projects every year.

He said the lack of certainty regarding older projects not only disrupts the ministry’s planning but could also prevent public development projects from being carried out when new priorities and allocations must be rearranged.

Fadzmel further revealed that tender processes for 40 rural road projects with a total cost of RM5.14 billion had to be cancelled.

Fadzmel Fadzil

Additionally, another 87 projects costing RM8.10 billion experienced delays in the issuance of SSTs.

In total, 127 projects worth RM13.24 billion have been affected, including road construction projects urgently needed by residents in Sabah and Sarawak.

He maintained that the Rural and Regional Development Ministry acted strictly according to government financial procedures and rejected allegations that Zahid, who is also deputy prime minister, had provided inaccurate information.

“So where did Zahid lie? The Rural and Regional Development Ministry merely acted in accordance with government financial procedures,” he said. - Mkini