Ministry to discuss with states on Marris funds for federal roads — Baru

KUCHING: The Ministry of Works will be meeting up with all state representatives in the coming months to discuss on the usage of funds from the Malaysian Road Records Information System (Marris) to maintain the federal roads in each state.

Minister of Works Baru Bian said Marris has a mandatory allocation from the federal government which is strictly used to carry out maintenance of state roads.

However, the ministry, he added, had discovered that the funds were more than enough to carry out the works, which created an “excess” of funds which were then deposited by each state into a fixed deposit.

“Why not use it (excess) for the maintenance of federal roads in the state itself,” said Baru at a press conference during his Christmas and New Year open house held at the MBKS community hall yesterday. However, for the proposal to work, Baru said it should be agreed upon by the respective states as the federal government cannot take an arbitrary approach on the matter.

“We cannot impose this as that is their (state) right after it (funds) is released to the states. The federal government cannot say anything thereafter,” he added.

He also emphasised that the funds from Marris should be solely used to maintain federal roads and not to construct a new federal road project. On another note, he noted that the Sarawak government was planning to register Jiwa Murni roads (federal roads) as state roads.

This, he said, is a positive move as it will enable funds from Marris to be used to maintain the roads.

When asked on the amount of funds given to each state, Baru said it will depend on the length of state roads in each state, and a formula is used to determine the amount.

“For Sarawak, we have yet to know the amount of excess, we need to refer to JKR Sarawak,” he added.

Present at the press conference were PKR central leadership council vice-president Ali Biju, PKR election committee secretary Ismail Yusof, Pelabuhan Kelang MP Azmizam Zaman Huri and Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How.

The open house from 11am to 2pm saw the presence of more than 2,000 guests from all walks of life.