In the budget 2023 presentation today, Malaysian finance minister Dato’ Sri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the government will be allocating RM 2.7 billion to maintain and upgrade the federal roads. Another RM 1.5 billion will be allocated for rural roads.
Themed “Membangun Malaysia Madani”, Budet 2023 covered several areas pertaining to transportation, including matters like the motorcycle license and commercial driving license, and the electricity tariff. The budget allocation for road maintenance and upgrades stems from the aim to handle the increasing road accident issue.
To manage the increasing road accidents, Dato’ Sri Anwar Ibrahim announced that a total of RM 2.7 billion will be allocated for the maintenance and upgrades of federal roads. Relating to the issue, RM 300 million will be specially allocated for G1 to G4 contractors to conduct minor maintenance works.
As for rural roads, a total of RM 1.5 billion will be allocated for upgrades and construction of new roads that connect rural areas and villages.
To combat the issue of potholes, the government will engage the district engineer to expedite road repair works and other infrastructure repair works based on complaints received from the citizens. Each district will be given an allocation of RM100,000 to fix the pothole issue.
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To improve road visibility at night and in bad weather conditions, a total of RM 50 million will be allocated to install road lights in areas prone to accidents.
Besides all the above-mentioned matters from budget 2023, the government will also increase the allocation for the Malaysia Road Record Information System (MARRIS) to RM 5.2 billion. The system which is already in existence serves to maintain state roads. The federal government has now allowed MARRIS to be used for road, bridge, and drainage repairs due to natural disasters.
