KK mayor slams BN’s Sepanggar MP

All applications for projects received from the public and politicians by the Kota Kinabalu City Hall must be processed based on rules and regulations, said its mayor.

KOTA KINABALU:  City Mayor Abidin Madingkir has rebutted accusations by a Barisan Nasional MP that he is “an agent of the opposition” and had purposely failed to implement projects approved for the Sepanggar parliamentary constituency.

Commenting on MP Jumat Idris’s allegations last month,  Abidin disclosed that all allocations given to City Hall for 2011 and 2012 had been fully utilized and all projects had been implemented accordingly.

The allegations that he as a mayor had not implemented projects that were allocated or channeled to City Hall, as claimed by Jumat were not true, Abidin said in a statement.

Jumat had accused the mayor of not releasing funds for projects approved by BN’s elected representatives. He claimed that some RM5 million in allocations from the Prime Minister’s Department, other ministries and their agencies were still unused.

Jumat had also called for Abidin’s resignation.

However, Abidin pointed out that all applications received from the public and politicians by City Hall was processed based on rules and regulations.

He said a total of 38 projects involving RM2.76 million were implemented by City Hall in the Sepanggar constituency last year while in 2011, a total of 94 projects were implemented in the same constituency, costing some RM5.57 million.

The approved funds amounting to RM1.2 million for the constituency, he said, is now under tender analysis processes and would be implemented soon.

Abidin added that City Hall had also received an allocation of RM1.770 million under the Rural Transformation Project to implement 19 projects, which are now at the preparatory stage.

Under the Public Infrastructure Project and Basic Infrastructure Project, a total of 52 projects costing RM3.4 million were also carried out by City Hall in the Sepanggar constituency while 34 projects involving RM3.7 million were completed in 2011, he said.

A total of 45 projects costing some RM3.5 million are now being carried out in the said constituency, he added.

Mayor has sole authority

Sepanggar encompasses the state constituencies of Karambunai and Inanam.

On the issue of his authority, Abidin said City Hall Enactment stipulated that the responsibility of City Hall lied solely on the mayor.

Therefore, he said, the issues of whether he took over the responsibilities from his director-general, deputy director-generals and directors did not arise and the directors had their own responsibilities.

Commenting on the issuance of trading licenses, he said all applications were considered and approved by the Licensing Unit and not by the Mayor.

However, the Mayor’s digital signature was being used to sign all the approval letters in the said unit.

Abidin said City Hall has also implemented the Environmental Improvement Monitoring System (EIMS) for the public to channel their complaints.

The EIMS system which was introduced in 2000 is part of City Hall’s efforts to improve its delivery system and all complaints received are attended to by City Hall’s relevant officers.

Hence, Abidin said any complaints pertaining to City Hall should make use of the proper channel and not through the media.

On his performance as mayor, Abidin said his duties as a public servant and it was his responsibility to defend the integrity and the credibility of City Hall.

“Whatever I do is in line with the PM’s concept of ‘People First Performance Now’.

“I have tried to do my level best for the people of Kota Kinabalu City and I have been doing my job in a professional manner,” he said adding that his office was always open to anyone who had any matters to discuss.