KUCHING, May 3 — A high level committee will be formed to finalise list of dilapidated schools to be repaired in Sarawak once Putrajaya agrees to state government’s proposal for the RM1 billion allocation, Assistant Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dr Annuar Rapaee explained today.

He said the committee, which will consist of the representatives of the finance and education ministries and the state government, will also finalise the amount to repair the schools after studying their conditions.

“The state government can propose on the list, but does not have the final say on which dilapidated schools to be fixed first,” he told reporters.

Annuar said it is wrong to assume that the state government will spend RM1 billion earmarked to fix dilapidated schools and build new ones without any transparency, as alleged by DAP’s Kota Sentosa Chong Chieng Jen.

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Chong, who is Sarawak DAP chairman, had also remarked that the state government should not be spending the money arbitrarily.

Annuar also said it is wrong to say that negotiations between the state and federal governments had reached a deadlock over funds to fix dilapidated schools as well as build new ones.

He said the state government wants to use the money to repair schools as a way to settling its federal loans, while the Finance Ministry wants the state government to pay up its debt before allocating funds to repair dilapidated schools in Sarawak.

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He opined that the federal government’s proposal was too long-winded, with the money having to go through Consolidated Funds.

“We are not sure if the money will be allocated in one lump sum or be divided into parts and over many years,” he said.

Annuar said the state government’s proposal will expedite the repairing and upgrading of dilapidated schools.

“But it does not mean that we are not going to follow financial procedures,” he said, adding that contracts to upgrade and repair dilapidated schools will still be awarded through open tender.

He said Education Minister Dr Mazslee Malek in February had agreed to Sarawak’s proposal, but the federal government decided against it last month.

He said the RM1 billion should be over and above the federal government’s allocation for Sarawak.

“It should not be part of the federal government’s allocation to us,” he said.

Earlier when replying to questions raised by Paulus Gumbang (GPS-Batu Danau) during a Question and Answer session in the Sarawak State Assembly, he said the state government views education, though it is under the federal government, as important to Sarawak.

As such, he said, the state government has decided to use its own funds to build SK Meludam in Betong, costing over RM35 million, and SK Ulu Segan in Bintulu, costing about RM29 million, without waiting for the federal allocation.

He said the state government has allocated RM123 million to fix 155 dilapidated schools this year, compared to the RM100 million allocation from the federal government.