KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 — Delays of government projects will not dampen Malaysia’s plans to become a high-income nation by 2020, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala (picture) said today.

When asked to comment on the delay of the government’s mega-projects such as state oil giant Petronas’ RAPID project in Johor, Idris said the “rescheduling” of projects was to counter capital flight.

He explained that the government wanted to accelerate projects that have a high multiplier effect on the economy and low import content, but would delay projects that would boost the economy less.

“You make sure there’s a response to capital flight,” the CEO of Putrajaya’s efficiency unit Pemandu said during a question-and-answer session here.

"We haven't quite done it but we are going through the process of identifying it and how we can do it," he said of the move to delay projects with low multiplier effect.

“We are not sacrificing our ambition to get to high-income nation by 2020,” he said.

Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, who was also present, said the government was not deferring or stopping projects but was placing it in sequence.

“Identify those high import content and low multiplier effect, we will just sequence it.

“But those projects in the pipeline which has high multiplier effect will continue to be implemented,” he said.

During the mid-year briefing on the government's Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), Idris said Malaysia is on track to whittle down its budget deficit to the targeted four per cent this year.

He also said Malaysia was on track to meet its target of RM148.4 billion worth of private investment for 2013, with 57.7 per cent or RM85.7 billion committed investments gained in the first half this year.

Putrajaya's goal of having private investments drive the economy also appears to be on target, with the ratio of private investment to public investment standing at 65.7 per cent to 34.3 per cent respectively in the first six months this year.

In 2011 and 2012, private investments stood at 57 per cent and 58 per cent of the country's total investment.

Some of the achievements under the ETP include the reduction or complete removal of the government's role in 21 out of 33 companies identified by Pemandu.

Some of the challenges faced include the three-year-old Tukar programme to upgrade sundry shops with the aid of hypermarkets, with a small percentage of the former's owners returning to their old habits.

The seaweed farming projects in Lahad Datu also fell behind the targeted 50,000 million tonnes for this year, with 13,653 million tonnes or 27.3 per cent produced so far, owing to the intrusion by Sulu invaders there.

When speaking about how affirmative action policies can be carried out in a transparent manner without distorting the market, Idris cited MRT Corp in the awarding of contracts to build the multi-billion Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) as an example.

He said that the company clearly carved out 30 per cent of the work packages for Bumiputera companies, leaving the rest open to all.

"These are the packages we carve out for the Bumiputeras and the rest we don't carve out," he said, adding that even the non-Bumiputera companies appeared to like the system where things were transparent.

He said there was competition among the Bumiputeras within the allocated slot.

"Even among the Bumiputeras must also compete, the best Bumiputera companies compete among the 30 per cent."

The local industry players and international companies also competed for the other contracts, he said.

"I think for that reason, the process that we went through, we put to life the notion of affirmative action is good if you are transparent on a needs-basis and market-friendly," he said.