CRACKED walls, leaky ceilings, sinking floors, collapsed fencing and a generally dirty and unkempt surrounding filled with undergrowth.

These are the conditions of 10 out of 11 Community Development Department resource centres audited last year.

Water has also found its way into most of these centres' activity rooms.

These centres, spread out in Selangor, Pahang, Negri Sembilan, Perak and Perlis were completed between 2003 and 2005 and are still termed 'new' but they are already badly in need of repairs.

However, maintenance fund is usually not allocated for new resource centres, so nothing is done.
There is a one-off allocation of RM5,000 for new resource centres to beautify its surroundings, but the Auditor-General couldn't determine whether the allocation was given to each of the 11 new resource centres.

It is also unknown whether the money was spent because their records at the state Kemas offices were not updated.

Based on payment vouchers between 2002 and 2006, only three out of the 11 centres visited had used the allocation to do some landscape work.

The Auditor-General said the resource centres should be maintained periodically not only to ensure its physical conditions are good, but also safe for use and for that purpose.

Rural and Regional Development Ministry said with the 2008 management allocation given to Kemas, RM135,000 is for the repair of Kemas resource centres throughout the country.