No more empty project announcements, says Anwar

 

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told civil servants in Perlis to embrace change. ‘Arrogance must be left behind,’ he said.

PETALING JAYA: No more empty announcements about state projects – that was Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s message today to state governments.

He said he would not announce any new projects for states that he visits without having first scrutinised them.

“It is not my practice to come around and announce new projects. If a project is to be announced, there must be approval at the federal-agency level, otherwise, the project would be publicised but nothing will happen,” he said in Kangar.

“For example, how many hundreds of projects announced in Perlis have not yet been implemented, especially those announced before the general election?

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“I don’t want to continue that practice. If we have made a final decision, only then do we (announce) it,” he said when addressing Perlis civil servants here, Bernama reported.

He said every project has to be studied and approved by relevant agencies before it could be announced, so that it could be carried out transparently and smoothly.

Anwar said a meeting of the Northern Corridor Economic Region will be held after the 2023 budget is tabled on Feb 24 to examine NCER projects.

However, he assured the Perlis state government that he would continue to help to strengthen the state’s economy.

The state government is led by PAS, as a member of Perikatan Nasional, which forms the opposition in the Dewan Rakyat to the government formed by Anwar.

He said: “I assure the menteri besar of Perlis, the state government and the people of Perlis (of this help), because the fact is that the Perlis economy is not as active as the other states. So it is the responsibility of the federal government to make Perlis stronger economically.

“That is what we will do in principle. The state and federal machinery should negotiate properly because we are under economic constraints. The national debt is estimated to be at RM1.2 trillion and the revenue is getting smaller, while the spending capacity is very limited,” he said.

He reminded civil servants to bring about change for the betterment of the country.

“Arrogance needs to be left behind,” he said.

Perlis menteri besar Shukri Ramli and state secretary Hasnol Zam Zam Ahmad were present at the briefing. - FMT