Claims that there have been budget cuts or restrictions on the rural and regional development ministry’s (KKDW) allocation for rural road projects have been refuted by the finance ministry, with treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Johan Mahmood Merican stating that all approved funds had been fully channelled.
In a statement issued last week, he said that recent payment delays to contractors was due to KKDW exhausting nearly its entire current-year allocation due to years of overspending beyond its approved parliamentary budgets, as the New Straits Times reported.
“Every ministry is responsible for planning and managing its expenditure based on the annual budget approved by parliament. There have been no restrictions placed on KKDW’s allocation for rural roads, with the funds fully disbursed. The payment constraints faced by contractors occurred because the current year’s allocation has already been almost entirely spent,” he said.
Johan said that in order to resolve the cash flow bottlenecks and clear payment arrears owed to contractors, the finance ministry is working closely with KKDW to reprioritise its existing budget. With that, the ministry has approved an additional RM300 million allocation for 2026 to help settle outstanding payments, while also working to identify cost savings from other ministries to help cover KKDW’s excess financial commitments.
Data released by the ministry showed that KKDW consistently overcommitted its annual budget for rural road projects over the past four years. In 2022, the ministry spent its entire RM1.1 billion allocation. In following years, expenditure outstripped allocation, with RM1.8 billion used against a RM1.1 billion budget in 2023, RM2 billion spent against a RM1.3 billion allocation in 2024, and RM2.3 billion forked out against a RM1.6 billion budget in 2025. For 2026, KKDW has already spent RM1.9 billion of its approved RM2.1 billion allocation as of June.
for what subsidize rural area, they are going to vote for PN and PAS
are they not Malaysian?
Why the road work construction at normal road/highway, close one section till ramput also grow still no progress? Started the job, collected #% upfront but didnt complete job isn’t that a lost to us Rakyat? and Risk on road also.
Zahid Hamidi not competent, so embarrassing…