ALOR SETAR: Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has denied claims that there is overcrowding at Immigration detention depots in the country.
He said so far, there are about 13,000 illegal immigrants placed in 19 Immigration depots across the country.
"The only time when depots experienced congestion was during the Covid-19 period because we could not repatriate them.
"Right now, there are 19 depots and 13,000 immigrants – where is the congestion? There is none," he said at a press conference here on Wednesday (March 6) after the handing over of letters of appointment to the members of Federal Village Development and Security Committees in Kedah for 2024.
He said that the Immigration Department conducts operations continually to detect foreigners who do not have valid documents or expired documents covering various sectors including construction, plantation and manufacturing.
Saifuddin Nasution said based on several operations, out of every 10 foreigners who were checked, 80% of them had valid documents, while 20% did not have valid documents.
On Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor's request for the Federal Government to approve additional allocations for the construction and upgrading of five water treatment plants in Kedah, Saifuddin Nasution, who is also state Development Action Council co-chairman, said the reason for the delay is because the projects need to be identified first.
"Before we get to considering proposals to increase costs, budget and so on, we will make a decision based on an analysis of the causes that lead to such delays.
"The cost of construction materials can be one factor but there can be other factors too. If we solve the issue of construction material costs but other factors are not addressed, it won't happen either. We have to look at it as a whole," he said.
Muhammad Sanusi had previously requested the Federal Government to expedite the approval of additional cost applications for the project to upgrade and build water treatment plants following the increase in costs faced by contractors following the increase in the price of building materials. – Bernama
