MISMANAGEMENT and power abuse in Sabah’s top planning authority is slowing down most construction projects there, to the extent developers are supporting the problematic Sabah Central Board’s removal.

The board is accused of taking its time to approve development plans (DP) due to the discretionary powers in the hands of the Sabah Town and Regional Planning director, who oversees the central board to approve development plans.

Developers said many DP approvals are purposely delayed by the director, with some plans approved only after six years.  

“The director has changed many procedures that they became so opaque that no one knows what happened at central board meets.

“The unclear procedures set by the director are also open for abuses and graft,” a developer who requested anonymity told The Malaysian Insight.

The director also allegedly altered the minutes of the approval board to indicate that the DPs have been referred to the state cabinet for approvals, delaying the process further.

Any authority to suggest, propose, amend and impose rulings given to the director provides room for graft, the developer said.

A source from the Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda), meanwhile, said the central board has gone beyond its role and is now copying the role of the local government in approving DPs.

“There are two bodies approving DPs. One by the local government and the other by the Sabah Town and Regional Planning Department central board.

The source said 95% of the DPs are usually approved with no hitch at the local government and City Hall level but will hit a snag when they reach the department as the director has full control over them.

This should not be the case as most of the experts like engineers and technicians to review DPs are in the local governments, not at central board, he said.

The Town and Regional Planning Department officers, who are mostly laymen, including the director himself, strayed into areas where they have no expertise on, he said.

“For the purpose of postponing, they would include technical recommendations which are quite absurd when most of the staff there are non-construction experts.”

Many of the Shareda members have incurred massive losses as a result of the central board’s delays.

Many projects are on hold and when a DP is approved, much of the accrued costs have to be passed down to the house buyers.

Furthermore, unlike other states, only in Sabah and Malacca are developers forced to cap their profits to around 30%.

Shareda said this is the reason Sabah properties, especially in Kota Kinabalu, are one of the most expensive in the country.

It is learnt that much of the problems with the central board started in 2008 and hit a peak with the world’s tallest Mazu statue controversy.

The was the result of a cold war between then Sabah chief minister Musa Aman and former chief minister Chong Kah Kiat, whereby the former increased the powers of the central board to cancel the project’s approval.

From 2008, the director of the department became so powerful and could change all the procedures by making them non-transparent, he said.

“He was able to cancel a project on a case-by-case basis although the developers had their DPs approved after meeting all the requirements set by the local governments.”

Originally, the central board meeting serves the function as a venue for developers to find recourse if their projects were rejected by the local government.

An open letter went viral recently by a project consultant accusing the director of seeking gratification from developers in order to have their DPs approved.

Another developer said recently the state government emphasised on key performance indicators (KPI) and, therefore, some projects held for many years were finally approved.

“The approval had been a little bit faster after the department’s KPI had been set in December last year. But there are still many areas with loopholes and provide opportunities for graft.

“What we want is for the Warisan-led state government to keep to its election promises to revert the authority back to the local government.   

“The non-transparent process done in the central board makes it easy for corruption to take place and the KPI alone is not enough.”

Sabah Chief Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal had noted plans to dismantle the central board but nothing had been forthcoming to date. – February 4, 2019.