Road maintenance cuts threatened for Malaysia

Highway managers in Malaysia face having their road maintenance funding slashed if they do not spend their current budgets. In a surprise announcement this week, the Malaysian government warned that states which “fail to manage and utilise funds allocated for road maintenance from the Federal Government risk having their provisions reduced in the future.”
August 6, 2012 Read time: 2 mins

Highway managers in Malaysia face having their road maintenance funding slashed if they do not spend their current budgets. In a surprise announcement this week, the 3491 Malaysian Government warned that states which “fail to manage and utilise funds allocated for road maintenance from the Federal Government risk having their provisions reduced in the future.”

Prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak is worried that a huge surge in road maintenance funding is not being properly invested. Currently, he said, US$ 828.2 million (RM2,591.3 million) is being allocated by the Malaysian government for road maintenance, compared with US$347.6 million (RM1,087.5 million) six years ago.

“This is an increase of 138%” since 2006, says the prime minister. “On average, the allocation has been increased by 27.6% per annum. However, we find that most of the states have not fully spent the allocation given to them so this situation must be addressed.”

Najib has announced that a “lab” review to develop “comprehensive guidelines on highway management procedures and the proper use of the country’s state road maintenance grant” will take place in October 2012.

“The lab sessions will come up with guidelines to address the issues at hand, and after that, any state that fails to manage this provision well enough may face reduction in the grant (in the future),” the prime minister told reporters after chairing the Malaysian National Finance Council Meeting 2012 this week.

He said the lab reviews will also be asked to “identify the reasons why some states have not fully utilised the grants allocated to them.” The review will report before the end of this year. Prime minister Najib also said that the Malaysian National Finance Council also took note of the auditor-general’s report on the State Road Maintenance Trust Account (Kumpulan Wang Amanah Penyelenggaraan Jalan Raya Negeri) and the Malaysian Road Record Information System (Marris). He said that he is concerned about a report from the country’s Ministry of Finance that has identified “matters which need to be addressed concerning the safety and comfort of road users.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Road accident database vital for road safety
    April 12, 2012
    In the last of our profiles of laureates of the inaugural Innovation Award for Road Transport in Developing Countries (InARoaD), we meet the winner of the Road Safety category, and third prize overall A vital prerequisite for achieving safer roads is thorough assessment of prevailing traffic situations and identification of associated factors. In this respect, the availability of a comprehensive road accident database is crucial for understanding the pattern of accident causation. Conscious of the ne
    Read More
  • Export ‘first’ for Viafix
    May 30, 2012
    VIATEC UK, the Bath, south-west England-based manufacturers of road maintenance and reinstatement products, has exported its first order of the pothole repair, Viafix, to Malaysia. While on holiday in the UK last winter, Australian highway engineer John Hare saw Dorset Highways using Viafix to repair potholes in heavy rain. “He asked one of the maintenance team how they could fill potholes under such adverse conditions. The maintenance team explained about Viafix and explained how easy to use it had been,
    Read More
  • Kenya’s bridge maintenance woes persist
    May 10, 2018
    Many of Kenya’s bridges are in poor condition writes Shem Oirere. The lack of programmed maintenance of bridges in Kenya continues to undermine the structural integrity of the infrastructure and compromising their general usage safety despite the existence of approved measures to protect them from falling into a state of disrepair. Experts think that both the absence of a maintenance component in bridge construction contracts, especially for those built one or two decades ago, and a weak maintenance supervi
    Read More
  • Road repair and maintenance programme for Mexico
    April 10, 2014
    A budget of US$5 billion has been set for road construction, maintenance and modernisation projects in Mexico during 2014. The programme has been set out by the Secretariat of Transport and Communications (SCT), which published 2,191 tenders by March 2014 and expects 80% of resources to be tendered by May 2014. The projects include the Indios Verdes-Santa Clara viaduct, works to 300km of rural and agricultural roads in Quintana Roo and pavement restoration in Benito Juarez. Also included are the Mexico-Pue
    Read More

Highlighted Content