KUCHING: The Sarawak government will not be injecting any more funds for capital outlay into two of its statutory bodies, Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) and Bintulu Development Authority (BDA), with effect from 2027.
Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said the decision was made as the two bodies had the potential to stand on their own, as well as to start a new organisational culture of not being over-reliant on the government.
“We want them to generate their own revenue. They have to explore new revenue streams because some of the subsidiaries are involved in commerce and economic activity,” he told reporters after officiating the National Auditors’ Conference here today.
He said the statutory bodies would need to monitor their subsidiaries’ performances to ensure they could profit from their ventures that could be broadened further to include new commercial activities like waste-to-energy products or green energy.
“Therefore, the government does not need to provide (allocations) anymore. We’ll use the savings that we get for other infrastructure projects with slow returns, like building schools and clinics,” he said.
Abang Johari said the move was made in the hope of changing the mindset of those running the statutory bodies, making them fully responsible for their subsidiaries’ performances.
“The government would not have to use the money (fund) to give them capital and then they just stay inert, thinking that it is okay to incur losses as the government would give them money. That sort of mindset must change,” he said.
Speaking at the conference earlier, he said the Sarawak government’s plan to cease channeling capital funds to statutory bodies was in the effort to promote lean management in such bodies while reducing financial leakages.
“Every year they (statutory bodies) ask for capital contribution and it has become a system. The government has to give capital outlay every year without knowing the returns. That is where leakages would happen,” he said.
