Hajiji (right) with state cabinet colleagues at the Sabah assembly sitting.
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government is keeping tabs on any possibility of corruption among civil servants in the implementation of projects, says Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
He said the ongoing corruption case involving Sabah Water Department officials served as a warning not only to civil servants but everyone in the government.
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"The state government will not compromise on issues of corruption as it is a serious matter which, if not tackled, will affect development programmes," he told the state assembly during question time here on Tuesday (Nov 28).
Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (Warisan-Senallang) had asked if the state government was checking on the continuing suspicion of corrupt practices in the Water Department, especially over the distribution of water through tankers which were only available to certain affected people.
Mohd Shafie said the element of corruption in the state civil service should be addressed to ensure that projects and plans were implemented without large sums of cash found in offices of senior government officers as in the past.
Hajiji said he had ordered State Secretary Datuk Seri Safar Untong to look into allegations of corruption to ensure the government's plans for the people were not derailed.
Earlier, Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Abidin Madingkir responded to Datuk Abdul Ghani Mohamed Yassin (GRS-Nabawan) who asked about short-term strategies to resolve infrastructure issues including clean water supply, electricity and roads.
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Abidin said the state government has allocated RM300.25mil for short-term measures with 20 priority projects including measures to reduce non-revenue water (NRW) from 59.57% to 53% within 24 months.
He said these projects include replacing water pumps and power generation equipment at water treatment plants, capacity upgrades for distribution and treatment plants, climate change mitigation, and cracking down on illegal connections in various areas including Kota Kinabalu, Tuaran, Papar, Beaufort, Tawau and Sandakan.
He said the expansion of the Kogopon Water Treatment Plant's capacity from 40 million litres per day (MLD) to 80 MLD will be completed in August 2026 and solve water supply issues for Kota Kinabalu south areas, up to Papar.
On the Telibong II water treatment plant upgrade from 80 MLD to 160 MLD, he said it would begin operating by early next month.
