In February 2022, the first project planning and monitoring meeting of the year between the Ministry of Rural Development Malaysia (KPLB) and the State Implementation Monitoring Unit (SIMU) under the then Chief Minister’s Department (now the Department of the Premier of Sarawak) took place at a hotel in Bintulu.
The Jawatankuasa Teknikal Bersama Perancangan dan Pemantauan Projek Kementerian Pembangunan Luar Bandar – Kerajaan Negeri Sarawak (JTEK KPLB-Sarawak) meeting was co-chaired by Deputy Secretary-General (Development) of KPLB YBhg Dato’ Hajah Norison binti Ramli and Director of SIMU Tuan Haji Azmi bin Haji Bujang.
It is created as a platform that monitors the implementation of projects under KPLB in Sarawak. It connects the Sarawak Government – represented by SIMU – with the Federal Government – represented by KPLB – to coordinate the development and monitoring of projects, especially in rural Sarawak.
In the joint technical committee, SIMU acts as a facilitator, in which the unit ensures that actions that address problems pertaining to KPLB projects in the State are taken promptly to see to it that they are carried out smoothly.
In this regard, it works together with KPLB to match these problems to the relevant Sarawak Government agencies.
“This cooperation between the Federal Government and Sarawak Government demonstrates the Government’s commitment in providing the best to the people of Sarawak, particularly rural communities,” states SIMU in a written response to RAKAN Sarawak.
“This makes SIMU’s role as a project monitoring agency in Sarawak highly significant in an effort to guarantee that development projects are completed as planned so that its benefits can be felt by those living in rural areas,” it adds.
As a representative of the Sarawak Government, the unit also works in close collaboration with the Implementation Coordination Unit under the Prime Minister’s Department (ICU, JPM) and its branch office Sarawak State Development Office, as well as relevant Federal agencies to monitor development projects or programmes that are funded by the Federal Government across Sarawak.
In essence, SIMU has been tasked to monitor the implementation of development projects or programmes financed by the Sarawak Government.
It accomplishes this through various monitoring mechanisms. Among them are project monitoring systems overseen by the unit – namely Sarawak Monitor (SM) and Rural Transformation Project Monitoring System (RTPMS) – and meetings and site visits alongside implementing agencies.
