Azlan Othman
The progress of the National Development Plan (RKN) projects will not only be monitored through the RKN Working Committee, but also through the National Budget quarterly meeting and monthly monitoring meeting as well as visits to project sites together with RKN project coordinating officers in each ministry.
This was said by Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah during the 19th Legislative Council (LegCo) session yesterday.
In addition, there is also an extension of the RKN 11 for one more year until the end of the financial year 2023-2024.
The extension takes into account the ability of the ministries to complete the projects as well as giving an opportunity to the ministries to re-examine the new projects.
The minister was responding to queries by LegCo members yesterday.
On 91 projects that are yet to be completed raised by LegCo member Yang Berhormat Haji Salleh Bostaman bin Haji Zainal Abidin, Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew said it is expected that if the projects are not completed this year, it will be brought to RKN 12. There is no significant development in the project following the COVID-19 pandemic for three years.
On updating the project status, the minister said some projects have been completed while some are not. Various issues arose during its implementation such as site and design. If a project needs more budget, it will be discussed during the RKN working group meeting before approval.
A similar response was also made by the minister in response to LegCo member Yang Berhormat Pengiran Haji Isa bin Pengiran Haji Aliuddin’s query on the budget allocation where the minister said the project will not stop if the budget allocation has finished. The allocation can be increased, he said.
Meanwhile on a query from LegCo member Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Setia Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Abdul Rahman bin Haji Ibrahim on the increase in RKN budget from BND390 million to BND500 million (for financial year 2023-2024) and fiscal consolidation effort, Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew said fiscal consolidation efforts continue. Efforts made include through the public-private partnership (PPP) and government linked companies (GLCs) to take over services to run efficiently.
Other efforts include attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) for locals and to develop the economy. The RKN projects are for the foundation for the economic activity to be strengthened to offer jobs for locals and to provide an opportunity for local micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (mSMEs).
Meanwhile asked by LegCo member Yang Berhormat Hajah Rosmawatty binti Haji Abdul Momin on whether adequate risk assessment and mitigation has been made to projects amounting to BND500 million for the projects to be completed with high quality, on time and on budget, the minister said the Ministry of Finance and Economy is preparing RKN 12 whereby the process of making such national development started two years before hand and involves ministries, site inspections and discussions. This is to ensure that the project is in accordance with the requirement.
Asked whether monitoring has been made by the ministries taking into account lessons learnt, the minister said several suggestions had been made before the project such as carrying out front loading activities and to optimise RKN budget by joint-sharing.
Responding to a query by LegCo member Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Haji Awang Suyoi bin Haji Osman on Human Resource Fund for financial year 2023-2024 which only amounted to BND130,000, the minister said BND130,000 has been allocated under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister’s Office for the i-Ready Apprenticeship programme.
Responding to LegCo member Yang Berhormat Haji Mohd Salleh bin Haji Othman for projects that could not be completed to be carried out in the next RKN, the minister said those projects will be forwarded to the next RKN.
In financial year 2023-2024, 80 projects will be completed. To date 45 projects have been completed while 126 projects are still left amounting to BND930 million.
The committee will discuss whether these projects will continue with the design or re-applied as new projects before the next RKN.
