Finance Minister approves extra RM500 million for KKDW after repeated overspend

Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that KKDW received a total allocation of RM2.11 billion for the year, with an extra RM500 million approved for 2026 to address chronic budget overruns recorded in 2023, 2024 and 2025. He described three remedial actions: first, identifying development-spending savings in other ministries and using those funds; second, directing KKDW to delay issuing new acceptance letters for rural-road projects to stop further arrears to contractors; third, asking KKDW to provide a projection of rural-road funding needs through the end of 2026 and 2027 based on awarded contracts.

Anwar also responded to Lim Guan Eng’s query about tendering, confirming that a pre-qualification tender system launched in 2023 was discontinued after the National Audit Office reported it failed to meet its objectives. Earlier, Zahid disclosed that some contractors faced cash-flow problems and even halted operations due to delayed payments, while Treasury Secretary Johan Mahmood Merican warned that most of one outlet year’s rural-road budget has already been spent, leaving little room for further payments.