Sarawak DAP chairperson Chong Chieng Jen today rubbished claims by the opposition that projects which were approved by the previous government had been cancelled by the Pakatan Harapan government.

Chong, the deputy domestic trade and consumer affairs minister, said he had checked with the Finance Ministry and was told that only two categories of projects were cancelled.

The first are projects promised by former premier Najib Abdul Razak during his visits prior to the 14th general election.

Chong said there were hundreds of these "projects" announced by Najib throughout the country, but no allocation was approved for the projects concerned in the budget.

"Groundbreaking ceremonies were done for those so-called projects, but it never got implemented. This is what is called hot air projects by Najib," said Chong at a media conference here today.

The other category, according to Chong, were projects awarded without open tender, which he referred to as "cronies' projects."

Chong said projects under the two categories were either terminated or under review because the price of the projects was highly inflated, impossible to implement and not so beneficial to the country.

- Bernama