News

5-star rating for 12 state departments and agencies
Posted on : 19 May 2016  Source of News: The Borneo Post
 

5-star rating for 12 state departments and agencies

 May 19, 2016, Thursday

KUCHING: Auditing conducted on financial management by 27 state departments and agencies in Sarawak last year found 12 of them to be excellent (5-star).

According to the Auditor General’s Report 2015 Series 1 tabled in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, 11 state departments/ agencies received good (4-star) rating and four other departments/ agencies got satisfactory (3-star) ratings.

Those with excellent rating comprise the State Financial Secretary’s Office, the Miri Port Authority, Kuching South City Council, Kuching North City Hall, Subis District Council, Department of Land and Survey, Rajang Port Authority, Chief Minister’s Office, Brooke Dockyard and Engineering Works Corporation, Miri City Council, Sarawak Islamic Religious Council and Sarawak Regional Corridor Development Authority.

Rating levels are based on the Financial Management Accountability Index 2015, which gives a 5-star for the excellent category scoring between 90 and 100, 4-star for the good category (between 80-89.9),

3-star for the satisfactory category (between 70 and 79.9), 2-star for the less satisfactory category (between 60 and 69.9) and 1-star for the unsatisfactory category (under 59.9).

In Kota Kinabalu, the overall management and performance of financial management on state ministries, departments and agencies in Sabah were good.

In 2015, the National Audit Department carried out an audit of financial management based on Accountability Index on 35 state ministries/departments/agencies.

The performance of 25 state departments and agencies were ‘excellent’, one agency was ‘good’ while eight state departments/ agencies were ‘satisfactory’. Meanwhile, the performance of one department was rated ‘less satisfactory’.

According to the report, the audit carried out under Section 15 (A), the Financial Procedures Act 1957 and the Treasury Instructions indicate the number of agencies or departments in Sabah which received excellent rating in 2015 rose compared with only 24 agencies in 2014.

According to the report, spot checks carried out on 15 agencies and departments in Sabah found that six of them fully complied with the revised financial regulations, but the rest did not.

In Kota Baharu, the Kelantan government has been urged to optimise the management of the state roads maintenance works to widen and maintain the roads.

From 2013 to 2015, the state government received maintenance grant amounting to RM556.64 million and was accounted into the State Road Maintenance Trust Fund. About RM401.18 million or 72.1 per cent of the amount was spent on the State Roads maintenance work supervised by the Office of the State Treasury.

For 2015, RM192.40 million was given to the state government but only RM174.36 million or 90.6 per cent used for road maintenance activities.

Local authorities are responsible for the maintenance of ‘lorong belakang’ (back alleys) (3,305.69 km) while the Department of Irrigation and Drainage had registered 281.10 km of Jalan Pertanian (agricultural roads) in 2015. The total length of state roads registered in Kelantan is 20,021.22 km.

The audit report also recommended that maintenance works should be undertaken immediately to provide safety and comfort to road users.

In Kangar, the financial management performance levels of four state departments/agencies in the year 2015 were excellent, one state department was good and two state departments/agencies satisfactory.

However, shortcomings in some Perlis state government departments’ performances in terms of spending, regulation and effective implementation were highlighted in the Auditor General’s Report today.

The audit was conducted on seven departments/ state agencies such as Public Works Department (PWD), Kangar Municipal Council (MPK), Department of Lands and Mines Perlis (PTG), Office of the Secretary of State and Perlis State Economic Development Corporation (PKENPs) between October to December last year.

Among the weaknesses is that departments failed to take early action on problems that cropped up during the execution of projects, the report stated.

The audit found the performance of the Perlis Road Maintenance Trust Fund low and that the allocation was not fully utilised, leaving a balance of RM111.89 million at the end of last year compared with RM109.33 million in 2014 to RM92.46 million in 2013.

It was also found that the management of Bumiputera quotas for private housing development projects was less satisfactory. — Bernama