SHAH ALAM, 27 Nov: Selangor is ready advance the state reserve funds for the maintenance of infrastructure to provide comfort to the people should the Federal Government issue a letter of guarantee in black and white to repay the sum.
However, Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim urged the Federal Government to fulfil its obligations as these are part of its responsibilities.
To smoothly facilitate this, the State Government will set up a special team consisting of the Chief Minister, the State Financial Officer, the State Economic Planning Unit (UPEN) and the Public Works Department (JKR).
“The special team will present to the Federal Government any projects or infrastructure which have to be developed by the Federal Government.
“If the Federal Government gives an approval letter in black and white to a project using state reserves and agrees to return the money, the State Government is ready to advance the state’s money,” he said.
Abdul Khalid, who is also the Ijok Assemblyman said this during his winding up speech concerning the development allocation of RM59.6 million for the year 2013 which has been approved for the Public Works Department (JKR) .
He also defended the open tender system in the awarding projects adopted by the State Government since taking over the state.
He added that the practice has proven to save about 20 percent of JKR’s allocated funds.
He explained that each contractor is only allowed to profit around eight to ten percent to avoid them from distributing projects to sub-contractors.
“Once an acquaintance told me that he had won a contract worth RM2 million but did not know anything about how the project was carried out.
“This is because according to him, he had won the tender because he knew the Chief Minister (at the time) and had just divided the work to sub-contractors.
“The is the practice that we are changing,” said Abdul Khalid.