Sabah, Sarawak rural road funding has not been cancelled, says minister 

KOTA KINABALU, Oct 29 — Allegations regarding the cancellation or reduction of allocations for the rural road projects (JALB) in Sabah and Sarawak by the Madani Government need to be examined based on accurate facts and information, said the Sabah PKR Leadership Council chairman Datuk Mustapha Sakmud.

In this regard, he suggested that any party raising the matter should provide detailed information, including an official list of projects, allocation values and their implementation status.

Mustapha, who is also the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs), said that the directive to postpone the issuance of new Letters of Acceptance (SST) dated September 10 was an internal financial control measure to prevent the increase of contract commitments exceeding the annual ceiling and not the cancellation of approved development projects.

“The fact is, the original allocation for JALB at the national level continues to increase from RM2.11 billion for the year 2026 to RM2.27 billion for the year 2027, compared to the previous era which never reached RM1 billion before Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s administration initiated an allocation of RM1.09 billion in 2023.

“In fact, the Ministry of Finance has approved an additional expenditure of RM500 million in 2026 to help address the backlog of payments to JALB contractors to ensure the commitments of existing projects can be fulfilled,” he said.

He said this after chairing a special coordination meeting of the Kota Kinabalu Disaster Committee at Kota Kinabalu City Hall here today.

Mustapha said the federal government’s continued commitment to the development of the Borneo region is reflected in Budget 2027, which allocates RM18.7 billion to Sabah compared to RM17.6 billion previously, while the allocation for Sarawak is increased from RM15.1 billion to RM16.2 billion.

“Meanwhile, an amount of RM3.3 billion has also been allocated specifically for the implementation of road projects in Sabah and Sarawak, covering the continuation of the development of strategic road networks,” he also said.

He emphasised that the development of basic facilities in Sabah and Sarawak remains a long-term investment priority of the Madani Government to strengthen connectivity and bridge the gap between regions. — Bernama