SHAH ALAM: Selangor has denied allegation that it failed to declare federal allocation for road repairs in the state's 2018 Budget.
State exco member Zaidy Abdul Talib said the allocation channeled under the Malaysian Road Record Information System (Marris) does not need to be reflected in the Selangor Estimated Expenditure books.
He said Marris allocation received from the federal government goes into a trust fund for state roads maintenance, which was set up in 2013.
"The management of this trust fund is in accordance to the Ministry of Finance's (MOF) guideline.
"As of Dec 31, 2015 and Dec 31, 2016, the balance of this fund was RM526,856,176.09 and RM370,647,601.38 respectively, which had been recorded and implied in the audited Selangor State Government Financial Statement 2016," he said in a statement.
Zaidy said the state had not, since 2013, accounted Marris allocation in the state's forecast revenue after they set up the trust fund, which followed a decision by the National Finance Council in 2012 for its setup by all state governments.
Zaidy was responding to a request for comments, on a claim by Batang Kali assemblyman Datuk Mat Nadzari Ahmad Dahlan's (BN) during the state legislative assembly sitting earlier today.
Nadzari had, in debating the state budget policy speech asked, Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali to explain why Marris allocation received from the federal government between 2012 and 2017 was not stated in the Selangor Estimated Expenditure books.
“We are worried that if there is an abuse, it will become rampant if it is not addressed," he was reported as saying.
Marris is a system introduced by the federal government in 2000 which records all data on roads in all states.
Under Marris, the federal government allocates fund for every states to repair their roads every year according to data registered in the system.
It is learnt that since 2012, Selangor received close to RM3b from the federal government under Marris.