MB: New schemes will add RM100mil to state coffers

Selangor government is diversifying its income streams to reduce its dependence on land premiums and taxes.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said the new initiatives would increase the state’s coffers by RM100mil.

He said that in 2021, his administration discussed 16 proposals to make the state government more financially robust.

“Three of these proposals, which include the sharing of revenue among state government’s subsidiaries, are currently being implemented.

“Two other proposals are the increased fees for services at land offices, and higher contributions for drainage,” he said during the state assembly sitting in Shah Alam.

Amirudin said there were also plans to charge a fee for companies that undertook light industrial activities on agricultural land on a temporary basis.

Another plan was to charge concessionaires a fee for highways that pass through forest reserve areas, he said.

He was responding to Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali (PN-Hulu Kelang) who asked about the state government’s plans to boost its revenue.

Azmin said that Selangor recorded a 6.8% drop in international investments from January to August.

In response, Amirudin attributed this to the drop in imports from Malaysia’s trading partners.

He said the decline was in electric and electronic components, petrochemical and chemical products as well as manufacturing equipment.

“The value of imports from Malaysia shrunk by 8.1% to RM1.718tril from January to August,” he said.

On Nov 10, Amirudin announced a RM2.53bil budget for Selangor, with a projected deficit of RM330mil.

It is almost 25% lower than this year’s deficit figure, which was RM450mil.

The lower deficit projection was based on the collection of taxes between August last year and September this year, which amounted to RM2bil.

“Land premiums will be the biggest contributor to the tax collection in 2024, amounting to RM891mil and making up 40.5% of the entire collection,” he was quoted as saying.

Separately, Azmin asked the state government about its plan to reduce reliance on fossil fuel and boost the use of renewable energy.

Amirudin said Selangor, via Worldwide Holdings Bhd, was in the midst of implementing nine renewable energy projects worth RM10bil.

“These include solar, hydro and hydrogen-based power plants,” he said.

He added that several locations were being identified for the solar plants.