Corridors get RM10b out of additional RM30b in 9MP

27-06-2008: Corridors get RM10b out of additional RM30b in 9MP
by Yong Yen Nie, The Edge Daily
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KUALA LUMPUR: The biggest portion of the additional RM30 billion allocated under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) will go towards infrastructure projects in the regional corridors, especially the East Coast Economic Region (ECER).

Economic Planning Unit (EPU) director-general Tan Sri Dr Sulaiman Mahbob said one-third of the additional development expenditure would be used to build infrastructure and improve the health and education levels of rural communities, especially in the ECER and the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER).

He said that the ECER would require more investments due to its lack of infrastructure while the southern corridor (Iskandar Malaysia) would be driven mainly by private-sector investments.

At a media briefing on the 9MP mid-term review on Wednesday, he said: “This extra allocation is part of the government’s efforts to reprioritise development projects towards people-centred ones.”

He said the extra allocation would come from savings obtained from the government’s fuel subsidy revamp as well as the revenue collected.

“The government had also apportioned the remaining RM20 billion into various initiatives, including RM3 billion for food security in the wake of rising food prices, RM1.6 billion to improve the country’s public transportation system and RM1 billion each for the development of Sabah and Sarawak,” Sulaiman said.

A sum of RM2 billion would go towards improving rural infrastructure, of which the electrified double-tracking rail projects form a part.

The federal government also planned to spend RM1 billion on low- and medium-cost housing projects, another RM1 billion to boost high-impact projects under the Education Development Master Plan and RM3.1 billion to improve the government’s administrative system via electronic processes, apart from investing RM3 billion in a strategic investment fund.

Sulaiman said out of the RM200 billion allocated originally under the 9MP, the government had so far completed RM29.6 billion worth of projects, while RM161.2 billion worth of other development projects were still in progress and RM9.6 billion worth of projects had not commenced.

He added that the federal government had not provided allocations for the Penang Monorail and the Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR) that were estimated to cost a total of RM3.5 billion.

Other projects for which no allocation has been made are the RM250-million Mont’ Kiara public park, various memorials under the Ministry of Arts and Culture that would cost about RM38 million, and federal administration centres costing RM290 million.

However, Sulaiman said the Pahang-Selangor Inter-State Raw Water Transfer Project, which would pipe water into Selangor to address its water shortage, was still ongoing.

“We have not scaled back any project in the regional economic corridors. We are merely allocating for projects that we think are ready to be implemented,” he said.