Zafrul: No rural road projects cancelled, only new contracts deferred

 

The Finance Ministry has never ordered the cancellation of rural road projects, said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s senior political adviser Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, amid a dispute over the deferment of new contracts.

According to Bernama, Zafrul said the deferment was intended to prevent outstanding payments to contractors from piling up further.

“The deferment of new contracts does not mean existing projects have been cancelled. The Finance Ministry has never issued any directive to cancel projects.

“These are two different things. That is why the country's finances must be managed prudently, not merely by approving projects but also by ensuring sufficient allocations are available to pay for them,” he said in a social media video today.

Although Zafrul did not name anyone, his remarks came hours after Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's press secretary Fadzmel Fadzil challenged the Finance Ministry to clarify when postponed rural road projects would resume.

Zahid is also the rural and regional development minister.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi

Fadzmel said a Sept 10 directive from the ministry had put previously approved funding on hold without specifying when it would be released.

“Postponed until when? 'Postponed without a date' effectively means 'cancelled',” he said in a Facebook post.

He claimed that tender processes for 40 rural road projects worth RM5.14 billion had been cancelled, while another 87 projects worth RM8.10 billion faced delays in the issuance of acceptance letters.

The 127 affected projects, worth a combined RM13.24 billion, included those in Sabah and Sarawak.

Fadzmel maintained that the Rural and Regional Development Ministry had complied with government financial procedures, rejecting allegations that Zahid had provided inaccurate information.

Spending nearly tripled

Meanwhile, Zafrul said rural road development spending had exceeded annual allocations approved by Parliament since 2022, leading to mounting contractual commitments and unpaid bills.

He also rejected claims that allocations for Sabah and Sarawak had been deliberately reduced, pointing to RM11 billion in rural road expenditure and allocations between 2023 and 2027, compared with RM3.7 billion from 2018 to 2022.

“In Sabah and Sarawak alone, actual rural road expenditure this year reached RM1.41 billion, the highest in the past 10 years.

“Since 2023, RM4.6 billion has been spent. Every year, approximately half of the country's total rural road expenditure is channelled to Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.

Zafrul added that Anwar, who is also finance minister, had approved an additional RM500 million this year from savings in other ministries' development allocations to settle outstanding payments to contractors.

Budget 2027 had also allocated RM2.27 billion for rural roads, while Sabah and Sarawak received a combined RM34.9 billion in development allocations, he said.

However, Zafrul cautioned against using development issues in the two states as political ammunition.

“What matters is that projects are implemented, contractors are paid, and the people benefit. That is our priority,” he said.

Yesterday, Finance Minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan told the Dewan Rakyat that the ministry had deferred the issuance of new acceptance letters to allow outstanding commitments to be settled, rather than cancel projects.

The dispute also centres on whether the Rural and Regional Development Ministry had exceeded its approved allocations.

Zahid had previously maintained that the RM6.108 billion spent on rural road projects between 2023 and 2025 was within the revised allocation of RM6.143 billion, disputing allegations of RM2.1 billion in overspending. - Mkini