Wfh Is No Excuse To Delay Projects Sabah Cm Warns Civil Servants

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Hajiji Noor (2nd from left) chairing the virtual meeting, with senior state and federal government officials present. (CM Department pic)KOTA KINABALU: Sabah chief minister Haji Noor issued a stern warning to all government department and agency heads that action will be taken if they are found to have delayed the implementation of development projects.
In a statement today, Hajiji expressed his unhappiness that some senior civil servants were using the work-from-home (WFH) criteria currently in place to justify delays in implementing the projects.
“Do not give the excuse that you cannot do the job because you have to work from home due to Covid-19,” he said when chairing the state development action council meeting at the state administrative centre here today.
“This is how the world is now,” he added, referring to working around the restrictions that are in place due to the pandemic.
Hajiji was responding to updates during the meeting on the various projects approved by Putrajaya for Sabah but that were still stuck in the pre-implementation stage in this third quarter of the year.
Others in the meeting were state secretary Safar Untong and federal state secretary Dzulkapli Mohamed, with other department heads joining through a virtual call.
“It is now August, how can we complete these projects? The federal government has approved our applications and given the allocation and yet the projects cannot take off.
“I do not want this to happen during my administration. If I find there are those contributing to the delay, I will not hesitate to take action,” Hajiji warned.
Earlier, he said a time frame must be set for the implementation of all federal-funded development projects in the state.
At the same time, he hoped the federal government’s plan to review development projects that have been approved but have yet to take off will not greatly affect Sabah.
As such, he underlined the importance of not dragging the matter much further, while other problems remained unresolved, including issues related to services, infrastructure and land.
“We must act as a team and look at the people’s needs in a holistic way. For instance, schools that are without water and electricity supply.
“Everything must be planned in the most proper way to ensure a smooth delivery service for the people,” Hajiji said.
He added that poverty eradication projects were also of high priority, with the percentage of people in the poor and hardcore poor brackets still high in Sabah.
He said it was now time for everyone to bolster cooperation and to review as well as enhance outdated and irrelevant regulations.
At the same time, he called upon government agencies to take advantage of technology in enhancing government delivery services and facilitate the private sector, which is the nation’s prime economic mover.
As for Sabah’s 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) performance, Hajiji said, as of Aug 8, a total of RM1.459 billion or 32.31% out of the approved RM4.517 billion have been spent under the first rolling plan. - FMT

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