Home Ministry seeks RM8.5b for projects

By New Straits Times

PUTRAJAYA: The Home Ministry has sought a RM8.5 billion allocation under the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP), said its minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

He said the ministry had received applications for 552 projects from its departments and agencies, of which 119 were continuing projects worth RM1.1 billion and 433 new projects costing RM7.3 billion.

“All continuing Ninth Malaysia Plan projects are in various stages of implementation or in the process of finalising the final payment,” he said in a statement yesterday.

He said of the total allocation sought, 46 per cent would finance police projects while the rest were for projects for the Immigration Department (24 per cent), Prisons Department (seven per cent), National Anti-Drug Agency (six per cent), National Registration Department (five per cent), Rela, Anti-Smuggling Unit, Registrar of Societies Department and the ministry’s headquarters.

Hishammuddin said the implementation of the projects would be in tandem with the 1Malaysia concept and the Government Transformation Programme, with emphasis on the construction of, among others, training centres, staff quarters and new police stations.

“The projects earmarked are also in line with efforts to ensure the success of the New Economic Model, based on our commitment to ensure that foreign investors would not have any doubts or worries on our ability to guarantee national security.”

He said a meeting on the 10MP, involving officers at the ministerial level, was held yesterday to fine-tune methods and strategies to ensure that the projects identified would be implemented promptly.

“I have directed that meetings be held at the state and district levels following the ministerial-level meeting.

“To ensure that the implementation of the projects will go on smoothly, I will visit the projects in various states to obtain feedback from officers on the ground.”