KUALA LUMPUR: Only 10% out of 229 sports facilities projects applied by the Youth and Sports Ministry were approved by the Economy Ministry, says Hannah Yeoh.
The Youth and Sports Minister said of the 229 projects applied under the Fifth Rolling Plan (RP5) of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), 51 are for new construction, while 178 are for extensions.
“Chances of getting new sports facilities are very slim,” she said.
While acknowledging several requests from Members of Parliament for new sports facilities, Yeoh said that high maintenance costs can pose a challenge.
She added that the provision of sports facilities greatly depends on the community on which sports facilities they would like.
“Many times the ministry wants to build the facilities, but when it comes to handing over the building to the state government for maintenance, they say they cannot maintain it,” she said during her winding-up speech at Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Feb 24).
Yeoh said there is a policy that applications for new or extended sports facilities can only come from the state government, as conflicting applications from the state legislative assembly (Aduns) have been received.
She also noted that sports facility assets have four types of ownership: federal government, state government, local authority, and private sector, as well as the provision of sports facilities.
She was replying to Datuk Mumtaz Md Nawi (PN-Tumpat), who asked if there is a mechanism to audit the sports facilities to ensure they are evenly distributed to all parliamentary areas.
Yeoh also said that there are 103 types of sports gazetted under the ministry, and it is challenging to distribute the funds for the development of all sports evenly.
“I also hope sports associations will take proactive steps by collaborating with state governments and the private sector to obtain funding and assistance for sports development.
“This is important because sports development requires a whole-of-nation approach and should not rely solely on government assistance,” she said.
