Nearly RM2bil spent on maintaining Peninsular Malaysia roads in 2024

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of RM1.909bil was spent on maintaining roads in 11 states across Peninsular Malaysia last year, the Dewan Rakyat was informed today.

Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said the expenditure covered 13,596.85km of roads in the peninsula.

The allocation included routine maintenance, periodic pavement and non-pavement maintenance, bridge maintenance, and the maintenance of streetlights, signal lights, as well as small maintenance allocations for each district engineer.

Nanta was responding to Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan, who asked about the sum allocated for road maintenance in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah.

In Sabah, Nanta said RM317.973mil was spent, covering the same maintenance aspects as in Peninsular Malaysia.

Nanta noted that 79.45% of last year’s allocation was for Peninsular Malaysia roads, with an average of 7.22% each.

Sabah received 13.23% of the allocation, Sarawak 6.378%, and Labuan 0.95%.

"To address and reduce maintenance backlogs, the ministry is always working towards obtaining additional allocations from the Finance Ministry to ensure the safety and comfort of road users in Sabah," added Nanta.

He also revealed that over RM25mil has been allocated to maintain streetlights and traffic lights along federal roads nationwide as of January this year.

A sum of RM10.64mil was allocated across 76 units in the peninsula, he said, adding that RM14.49mil was allocated for Sabah, Sarawak, and the Federal Territories of Labuan across 37 units.

"All the works are carried out by the Public Works Department (JKR) through a tender process," he said.

According to the minister, the Works Ministry received an allocation of RM100mil to carry out streetlight and traffic light maintenance works across federal roads nationwide.