Kuala lumpur: The Higher Education (MOHE) has urged all agencies under its purview to accelerate the implementation of development projects to strengthen the country's higher education sector. MOHE secretary-general Datuk Dr Aminuddin Hassim also expressed his hope that the agencies would improve their development expenditure performance to ensure that every approved allocation is utilised optimally.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, as of July 6, MOHE's development expenditure performance remained below target, recording 40.88 per cent, or RM1.574 billion, compared with the national average of 42.27 per cent. The Inter-Ministry Expenditure Performance Report issued by the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) places MOHE at 13th out of 28 ministries, prompting the call for immediate improvement measures to achieve the expenditure target of 55 per cent.
Earlier, while chairing the Ministry Development Action Committee (JTPK) meeting at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) in Sintok, Aminuddin stressed the importance of adhering to the prescribed schedule for spending allocated funds. He noted that successful project implementation would encourage continued government funding allocation for future development.
He emphasized the urgency for all agencies to expedite projects under Rolling Plan 5 (RP5) of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), with 24 projects still in the pre-implementation stage as of July 17. Aminuddin highlighted the necessity of completing project documentation promptly to allow for Letters of Acceptance (LOA) issuance within the year and maintaining consistent updates on project progress through the MyProject system.
Meanwhile, MOHE plans to realign this year's development allocations by reallocating surplus funds to projects that require additional funding and are capable of spending the allocations within the stipulated timeframe.
To enhance project governance, MOHE is introducing new measures for managing ageing facilities projects, including the cancellation of projects with a Letter of Approval for Reallocation (SKTP) that remain unadvertised or are at early procurement stages.
The management of MOHE's physical projects under the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP) will focus on three key construction technology pillars: the Industrialised Building System (IBS), Pre-Approved Plan (PAP), and Building Information Modeling (BIM). Aminuddin stated that such measures would speed up project implementation, enhance construction quality, standardise designs, and reduce costs and delays through digital technology and industrialised building components.
All MOHE development projects valued at RM100 million and above are required to achieve a minimum IBS score of 70 per cent, while the use of PAP for standard academic buildings, residential colleges, and computer laboratories, as well as the implementation of BIM, is now mandatory for government projects.