Daily Express Subscriber
Sign in to your account.

Kota Kinabalu: The State Cabinet on Wednesday endorsed the setting up of the State Public-Private Partnership and Concession Project Management Committee.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the new committee would replace the State Privatisation Committee formed in 1991.

“The new committee will look at three categories of projects compared to the previous committee, which only assessed projects from the privatisation perspective,” he said.

Now, he said, any public-private project proposal would be initiated by the respective ministries and referred to the new committee’s technical committee chaired by the State Economic Planning Unit.

Once the project is deemed viable, it would be brought to the Main Committee chaired by the State Secretary for further scrutiny before being tabled for final approval by the Cabinet.

This is to ensure, among others, the accuracy of the project scope involving the State Government and the private sector, such as water and road concession or housing projects, he said.

“All joint ventures involving the State must now undergo this committee’s review process,” he said.

Chairing the first Chief Minister’s Department post-Cabinet meeting after the formation of the new Government at Menara Kinabalu, Wednesday, the Chief Minister said the State Cabinet also approved additional criteria and improvements to the Rumah Mesra SMJ initiative this year.

He said the cost for one unit of the SMJ house with pillars has been raised to RM95,000 and the cost for the SMJ house without pillars is now RM85,000 per unit.

The increase was to cater for additional costs such as building material transportation, land reclamation at the house site and installation of electric poles and water pipes.

Hajiji also announced that the Hala Tuju Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) 2.0 (2026-2030) Development Plan would be launched on Jan 30 in conjunction with the Chief Minister’s Keynote Address ceremony to the State Public Service, Government-Linked Companies and Statutory Bodies personnel. More than 7,000 personnel are expected to attend the event.