PUTRAJAYA, Nov 14 — Secretaries-general and directors-general (DGs) must monitor the implementation of every project and have the courage to terminate a programme or project or the services of contractors who perform poorly, says Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali.

"The supervision and monitoring of a programme or project must be done with integrity and thoroughness so that early action can be taken,” he said at the National Development Awards (APN) 2023 here today.

Mohd Zuki, whose speech was read out by Prime Minister Department’s Implementation Coordination Unit (JPM ICU) director-general Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim placed a lot of trust in civil servants instead of just relying on external consultants.

"Because he trusts us civil servants, he (Anwar) has also tasked us to implement small projects and maintenance at the MOE (Ministry of Education) through the empowerment of the implementation of federal projects at the state and district levels,” he said.

For minor maintenance projects in the MOE as of October 31, he said that out of the total of 8,354 projects, 8,109 projects or 97.1 per cent had obtained letters of acceptance (SST).

He added that 4,764 projects have been completed, 3,018 projects are still under construction and 328 projects aborted.

"This shows the solid commitment of all parties striving to ensure the success of these projects until their completion at the end of this year. Projects that are people-oriented will be continued from time to time,” he said.

Mohd Zuki said that based on the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) Rolling Plan 3 (RP3) expenditure performance as of November 6, a total of 76.84 per cent or RM74.53 billion had been spent compared to the total allocation of RM87 billion, involving 8,241 programmes or projects.

For a clearer picture of the performance of the development expenditure (DE), Mohd Zuki said the Basic DE category showed an expenditure of RM32.90 billion or 65.70 per cent compared to the total allocation of RM50.08 billion, which involves a total of 8,052 programmes or projects.

He said the average development expenditure was 65.69 per cent, with the three ministries with the highest Basic DE expenditure performance being the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and the Cooperatives and Ministry of Transport.

"There are still some ministries which spend less than 60 per cent. As such, I urge that this expenditure be increased to the optimum level until the end of this year,” he said.

At the APN 2023, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development came in first in the best Industrialised Building System (IBS) management category under RM1 million.

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) also won an award in the sustainable high-performance project outcome evaluation category.

APN 2023 serves as a platform for sharing success and best practices in programmes and project management at the ministry and government agency levels. — Bernama