A sum of RM29.64 million worth of sand royalty was received by the state government through MB Incorporated (MB Inc) from 2014 till October 2016.
Dato’ Dr Mah Hang Soon, the Executive Councillor for Health, Public Transport, Non-Islamic Affairs, National Integration and New Villages, said that the amount had increased 48-fold from the amount received in 2014 which was RM479,007.
“The royalty paid to the state government rose to RM5.93 million from 2014 to 2015 and reached RM23.21 million in October. It proves that MB Inc has succeeded at reducing leakage in the management of sand mining in this state,” he said at a press conference on Friday, November 18.
The Adun for Kepayang, Nga Kor Ming, had earlier claimed that there was mismanagement of sand mining by MB Inc.
According to Mah, the success of MB Inc in increasing the state’s revenue had attracted the interest of a few agencies from Selangor and Pahang to adopt the sand management system.
He added that the Auditor General has also given his acknowledgement for the system.
MB Inc Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Aminudin Hashim, said that the agency had paid a total of RM4.04 million royalty for red earth to the state government. The amount was collected last year.
Speaking on the management of the two resources, he said that continuous surveillance was done with the help of drones that relay information to the operations room of the Perak Techno Trade Centre.
Rosli Mansor
