KOTA KINABALU, July 23 — The Sabah agencies behind 25 delayed and troubled development projects in Sabah have been ordered to sort out the obstacles as soon as possible, said state chief minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

These 25 "sick” projects were identified out of the 1,218 currently in progress, including utility supply projects, schools, health facilities and public amenities that were not completed within the stipulated period.

"These are of public importance, so every effort should be taken to ensure their completion,” Hajiji said when chairing the State Development Action Council meeting at Menara Kinabalu here.

The council was also briefed on the Special Joint State-Federal Committee tasked with monitoring development in Sabah, especially problem projects.

Hajiji urged the federal and state implementing agencies to make full use of the RM6.6 billion allocated by Putrajaya under Budget 2024 for development in Sabah.

The allocation covers development programmes such as flood mitigation, rehabilitation of the Tuaran River, construction of new schools, repair of dilapidated schools, and building new clinics and Tamu Desa premises, he added.

He said it was imperative for authority to be given to technical agencies in Sabah to implement projects costing RM50mil and below, to spur the state’s economic growth.

"Federal and state implementing agencies must strengthen relations, improve performance and enhance project quality for the benefit of the people.

"We have passed the middle of the year, so I want all of us to scrutinise and review our performance against our respective targets in terms of project implementation,” he said.

He said as of July 15, Sabah has spent RM1.791 billion or 35.46 per cent of the allocation, against the national average performance of 43.45 per cent under the Fourth Rolling Plan of the 12th Malaysia Plan.

On other matters, the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) secretariat briefed the council on Sabah’s hardcore poor eradication programme, stating it was on the right track to achieve its target of eliminating hardcore poverty.

"It is important that the state government, through the SMJ secretariat, introduce interventions to further lower hardcore poor [statistics] in the state,” said Hajiji.