KUCHING, March 7 — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamid today said that the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development and the Sarawak government have agreed to implement 10 matters in the state.

He said these include rural infrastructure projects, water and electricity supplies and rural schools.

"A technical committee will be formed by the ministry and the Sarawak government through three state ministries to monitor the implementation of these matters that we have agreed to,” the rural and regional development minister told reporters after chairing the ministry’s coordination committee, together with the state government here.

He said the setting up of the technical committee is to ensure follow-up actions will be carried out after the implementation of the projects.

"There are a number of projects that have been planned a long time ago but the implementation was not done due to lack of coordination.

"We at the ministry have agreed that these projects must be implemented and if there are elements of additional costs on the implementation, we will discuss with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy,” he said.

However, he said, all the guidelines will be adhered to in implementing the projects.

He said the special allocations are to meet the increase in costs of building materials and transporting the materials to the rural areas.

Ahmad Zahid said his ministry has also agreed to the state government’s request to carry out 'jiwa murni' projects to upgrade former logging tracks.

He said the ministry, together with the state government, will upgrade the logging tracks and said it will be completed by Christmas on December 25 this year.

"We will give the upgrading as our top priority,” he said.

"We will do this not because of the Christmas celebration, but because of the wet season that Sarawak will face at the end of the year,” he said.