Negeri Sembilan : Sleepy Hollow No More

ARCHIVES 2009

By admin-s On Nov 18, 2009

By Lee Wee Tak

Negeri Sembilan has always been a relatively “quiet” or “stable” state. No scandals, no wastage and looked like a happy ship, unlike Kuala Lumpur and Selangor where numerous scandals or dubious arrangements have been discovered, highlighted, reported and until significant pressure from people like Nadeswaran, Terence Fernandez and Lim Kit Siang etc, Malaysians would not have heard of PKFTZ, Mickey Mouse tour by Menteri Besar, Zakaria Istana, Toyo’s property etc.

Or is there something simmering beneath in Sleepy Hollow?

Note: 2004 (47.5 mil); 2005 ( 46.95 mil); 2006 (25.37 mil); 2007 (20.32 mil); 2008 (15.60 mil)

According to LAPORAN KETUA AUDIT NEGARA, PENYATA KEWANGAN KERAJAAN NEGERI DAN PENGURUSAN KEWANGAN JABATAN/AGENSI NEGERI SEMBILAN TAHUN 2008, the state has been running deficit budget for past 5 years consecutively.

If a government is spending more than it can earn continuously, it must get money from elsewhere so naturally the state government of NS borrowed from the federal government.

The borrowing as at end of 2008 is RM2 billion, which is about 10 times the annual income which stood at RM260.7 million for 2008. The cost of funding is not cheap. Look at 4.5.4 below the graph.

“4.5.5 Pada akhir tahun 2008 bayaran balik pinjaman berjumlah RM16.26 juta telah dibuat bagi 23 pinjaman. Bayaran balik pinjaman ini terdiri daripada bayaran balik pokok berjumlah RM2.19 juta dan bayaran balik faedah berjumlah RM14.07 juta.”

– only 13.5% on the repayment go towards reducing the principal while the rest constitute interest payment.

– Isn’t it great to be the federal government?

Ok, interest charged by the federal government may be out of control of the state government. Mitigating consideration is perhaps the state government really did borrow the money and apply it for the benefit of the citizens of NS?

On page 21 of the report, it is stated that,

“ii) Analisis terhadap perbelanjaan pembangunan bagi tahun 2008 berbanding tahun
2007 menunjukkan tujuh maksud perbelanjaan pembangunan yang melibatkan
empat Jabatan mengalami peningkatan perbelanjaan antara 0.4% hingga 725.6%.
Manakala sebanyak tujuh maksud perbelanjaan yang melibatkan lima Jabatan
mengalami penurunan perbelanjaan antara 4.1% hingga 29.9%.

iii) Semakan Audit mendapati dua maksud perbelanjaan pembangunan yang melibatkan Pejabat Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri mengalami peningkatan perbelanjaan antara 34.5% hingga 725.6% pada tahun 2008 berbanding tahun 2007. Projek yang terlibat adalah Kerja-kerja Kecil dan Bangunan Kerajaan masing-masing berjumlah RM7.7 juta dan RM23.20 juta. Butir-butir perbelanjaan pembangunan adalah seperti di Jadual 4.23. “

725.6% cost overrun related to “Pelaksanaan Projek Ubahsuai Bangunan Kerajaan” …something that the man and woman in the street cannot benefit directly, if at all.

In at-arms length commercial world, a cost overrun of 50% could mean curtains for some project manager but for the State Secretary of NS, during the GE year of 2008, the renovation of the state government building suffered a budget overrun of 7 times from its planned expenditure. One wonders who were the lucky contractors….