Rural road spending stays within revised RM6.143 billion allocation
Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said allegations of RM2.1 billion in overspending overlooked approved revisions to the programme’s funding.
Spending on the Rural Roads Programme (JALB) reached RM6.108 billion during 2023-2025, leaving about RM34.3 million under its revised RM6.143 billion allocation, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told Parliament.
Addressing the Dewan Rakyat during the policy-stage debate on the Supply Bill 2027 (Budget 2027), Zahid said the overspending allegations used the initial budget of about RM3.982 billion as their benchmark. He said that comparison excluded later approved adjustments and did not, by itself, demonstrate missing or misappropriated funds.
Zahid, who is also rural and regional development minister, said JALB covered 415 projects as of Sept 30, with combined costs of about RM34.23 billion. These were multi-year commitments, he said, with staged payments tied to progress and verified claims rather than the full sum being payable within a single year.
For 2026, expenditure stood at about RM2.48 billion as of Sept 30. That represented about 82.1% of the amended RM3.02 billion budget, he said.
Annual funding could need revision when construction advanced more quickly than expected or verified claims on earlier projects needed payment, Zahid said. However, he stressed that extra funding requirements did not authorise arbitrary budget increases or departures from payment procedures.
He said revisions required the notice of change process and the appropriate approvals. Government systems such as MyProjek and iGFMAS recorded those decisions, while payments depended on funds being available and implementing agencies verifying the work claimed.
