Selangor defends its road repairs surplus

The Selangor government saved money in its road repair divisions by holding back the Malaysian Road Records Information System (Marris), as well as carrying out several road projects cheaply.

Selangor Mentri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said this accounted for the surplus, disagreeing with the Auditor-General's Report which had claimed that the state was inefficient and had hoarded federally-given road repair funds.

"As a responsible and transparent government, Selangor chooses not to spend for the sake of finishing an allocation. It might have led to worse leakages. If that happens, Selangorians will be on the losing end," Khalid said in a press release.

In the Auditor-General Report 2012 released on Monday, the Selangor state government was rapped for spending RM640.24 million or just 56.3 percent of the RM1.14 billion it received from the federal government for the maintenance of non-federal roads between 2010 and 2012.

Khalid however gave a different account. He said that by delaying the Marris project until further studies were made, the state had an extra RM149 million for 2013, after spending RM290 million of the Marris allocation on other road projects.

He said that the state also saved RM93 million as several projects were executed a fifth cheaper than originally budgeted.

"These funds can be used for other projects which benefits the rakyat," he added.

Khalid also said he was perplexed by another portion of the audit report which said that the rakyat was not happy with Selangor road conditions.

The auditor report had said that a survey conducted by its office of 545 respondents in Klang, Gombak and Shah Alam which showed 80 percent of them expressing dissatisfaction with the condition of their local roads.

Khalid said this was uncalled for as the auditor-general's duty was merely to ensure that money was properly spent and according to treasury guidelines.

Explaining the perceived poor condition of certain roads in Selangor, Khalid blamed it on past governments.

"It was because these roads were not properly grouted some 20 years ago and it was only the surface grouting that could not stand up to major erosion later," he said.

He reiterated that his government was committed to building the best infrastructure and development for Selangor.