Since PAS took over Kelantan 10 years ago, the federal government has been consistently late in channeling the annual compulsory grant to the state, it was revealed in the state legislative assembly sitting today.

According to the exco in charge of financial affairs, Takiyuddin Hassan, the federal government has only delivered RM40 million of the RM117 million that Kelantan is supposed to receive this year (RM10 mil arrived only two days ago).

There are two types of compulsory federal grants, with the first called the capitation grant, which is based on the size of the population of the state. According to the National Finance Council, which is chaired by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the grant has to be paid in January and July of the same year.

The second grant is the road grant, which is paid monthly to help the state government maintain its network of roads.

"Records since 1990 show that the federal government has consistently ignored the procedures stipulated by the Finance Council by not paying the allocations on schedule,'' said Takiyuddin.

The situation is such that Kelantan is still receiving allocations for 1999 this year. However, records from 1985 to 1990 (when BN was in charge of the state) show that the situation is different: there is nearly full compliance with the payment schedule.

According to Takiyuddin, his government had tried to seek an audience with Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin to resolve the matter, but the request has never been entertained.

On whether Kelantan had suffered any loss from the delay in payment, he replied that losses are difficult to be quantified in terms of ringgit and sen.

"However, it has disrupted our plans for the state. And we certainly lose out from the interest (that would otherwise accrue)," he said.