Press Statement by YB Kelvin Yii:
In the spirit of transparency and accountability, I would like to declare that I allocated a total of RM 3,932,903.40 for a total of 830 projects and welfare aids in my constituency of P195 Bandar Kuching for the year of 2019. For this year, the allocations was allocated mainly on 6 main focus categories:
Education – RM 899,911.00
Healthcare – RM 518,350.00
Community Engagements – RM 464,053.00
Association Grants – RM 382,586.00
Small Infrastructure Projects – RM 1,335,100.00
Welfare – RM 332,903.40
All those allocations has been paid out fully to the respective parties. Some of the physical projects have been completed in 2019 with the remainder set to be completed soon in 2020.
Some of the small physical projects that have yet to be completed are upgrades and renovations in schools, where construction works only could commence at the end of the year during the school holidays. The others includes drainage and public park upgrades which requires approval and building plans from the local council(MBKS, DBKU).
I have also provided the full list of all the beneficiary associations and small project list in the constituency.
My office was given a total of RM 2 million worth of constituency allocation from the Ministry. These allocations do not take into account the additional allocations we managed to obtain from the Federal Government through the different ministries for the benefit of the constituency.
Based on the allocations, there were specific guidelines given to us on the usage of the allocations.
For welfare aid and disaster relief, we are to give only to constituents within Bandar Kuching, and for my office, this was used to help some poor constituents to help them with their daily needs, their children’s education, funeral expenses, hospital and healthcare expenses, families affected by flash floods, house fires, and also victim of overseas job scam.
All associations and respective parties that receive the allocations are required to furnish official reports of their activities and expenditures so that our office and the Ministry can constantly monitor the proper and accountable usage of these allocations. This is also to evaluate future allocations based on impact value to the community for each of the programs done by each association.
I personally have visited all the different associations that receive the allocations to better understand their activities and aims so that we can better allocate the necessary funding to them as well as to find ways to work together in the future for the benefit of the community.
This is also to make sure that these allocations will go directly to the intended target for the benefit of the people. We will also continue to monitor to make sure these public funds are used properly and accountably.
On top of that, we were also allocated a total of RM 2 million for small projects under a category known as “Projek Mesra Rakyat(PMR)”. This allocation will require a open tendering process done by the Implementation Coordination Unit(ICU) under the Prime Minister’s Department to select an appropriate contractors for the project. Even as the member of Parliament, i do not have the authority to influence the selection of contractors as a safeguard to prevent abuse of power and also personal or crony enrichment.
Based on the agreed guidelines, small projects that fall within the jurisdiction of any of the local council whether MBKS or DBKU will also require approval from them as well as all works by the selected contractor will need to follow the set specifications and design provided by the local council in line with the overall city planning design.
For the year 2020, our office have made plans and are looking forward to work with different communities for more activities, projects and community based programs in Bandar Kuching to better utilize the allocations entrusted to us for the benefit of the people in Kuching. We will continue to declare all our yearly expenditures in the spirit of accountability and transparency.
While the allocations may be limited in comparison to the allocations given to the GPS State Representatives, but we believe in spirit of accountability and transparency and will continue to be faithful even in the small things and be accountable to every cent that has been entrusted to us by the people.
DISCLAIMER:
(1)The amount to each association(must be registered in constituency of Bandar Kuching is not publicly publish to protect the financial confidentiality of each of the association(by request of certain associations), but any members of public are welcome to the office to scrutinize these figures personally.
(2)List of names of welfare recipients are not publicly listed to protect their confidentiality.
