KOTA KINABALU: The management and administration of all Sabah government-linked companies (GLCs) are being restructured to avoid wastage and leakage of the state government’s funds.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (pix) said it was important for the state government to identify and tackle the problems occurring in the GLCs in order to put them back on the right track.
“The GLCs were set up not just to create job opportunities, but more to generate income for the state government.
“In this context, we have to find out the situations faced by not only Benta Wawasan, but also Warisan Harta, Yayasan Sabah and all the other Sabah GLCs which once had a lot of assets, but nobody knows where are all the assets now,” he said after the introduction of Sabah football team players and launch of their new jerseys for the 2019 season, here today.
Mohd Shafie, who is also Sabah Finance Minister, said this in response to the report that Benta Warisan Sdn Bhd in Tawau was given 150,000 hectares of land for development, but had only utilised 40,000 hectares, with 25,000 hectares being planted with oil palm trees.
It was also reported that the state government had channelled RM750 million to the GLC for the purpose, but it currently left with only RM30 million.
Mohd Shafie said he did not want the state’s GLCs to hide anything, especially a leakage in their funds.
That is why the restructuring of the GLC administration was being done to ensure that they would be properly managed to remain competitive and capable of strengthening the state’s financial condition, he said, adding that not all Sabah GLCs were problematic, just that they were not properly managed, thus causing weakness in management and administration. — Bernama
