KUALA LUMPUR: A report by an online portal regarding the Higher Education Ministry and the “Taman Ilmu” education hub in Terengganu is totally wrong, said Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh (pic).

“The ministry plays no role in Taman Ilmu and it has nothing to do with our budget. The association of the project with the Ministry is absolutely wrong,” he said on Thursday.

Idris said that the project is a state government project and his ministry could not interfere with it.

The portal had reported that the 280ha project cost RM746.26mil and the Ministry of Higher Education was responsible for it.

Commenting on allegations that his Ministry faced a budget cut because of the project, Idris said that there was a mistake in that statement.

“When you talk about budget cuts, the normal mistake made is that only the operational budget is taken into account,” said Idris.

He pointed out that that there are two budgets – operational and developmental.

“Under Budget 2016, there was a decrease in the operational budget and there was an increase in the developmental budget,” he said.-thestar