Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today announced that the government's annual budget will stretch two years instead of one to allow more time for development projects to be implemented.

He said that the two-year plan will begin from this year.

"I have spoken with the Treasury, and with this new plan, we can deal with all the bureaucratic matters first and then move on to the projects proper.

"There will be one budget for actual implementation and another for identifying the project which we will want to do the following year which does not require expenditure," Mahathir told reporters after officiating the 'I Pledge' signature ceremony for senior civil servants at Intan (National Institute of Public Administration) in Bukit Kiara today.

According to him, many projects were delayed as too much time was spent dealing with tenders and contractors. The new budget programme factors in the time needed for such bureaucratic processes.

"If we give RM2 million to every major town to install lighting for festivities, I should think that not all of the towns would be able to do so. They would need to get tenders and approvals, and it would not be done until the end of the year.

White paper on Al-Ma'unah

Mahathir also said that the government would be tabling a white paper in Parliament on Islamic cult group Al-Ma'unah soon.

"The problem we had last time was that it was still a pending court case and it would have been in contempt of court," he said.

However, he did not specify the time the white paper would be released when asked.

"Give us some time," he said.

On Dec 28, three Al-Ma'unah members were sentenced to death, while 16 others got life imprisonment, when they were found guilty of waging war on the King after a long trial that started in September 2000.

Students' arrests regretted

On another matter, Mahathir said that he regretted the incident last night when eight students and one housewife, were arrested and accused of trespassing the Barisan Nasional operation centre in Indera Kayangan, which is preparing for a by-election following the death of its state assemblyperson.

"We have already advised the students not to get involved in politics. If they know that it is wrong then they should not get involved in the first place," he said.

The arrested include students from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and the Tun Hussein Onn University College of Technology.

The premier had earlier officiated the "I Pledge" function, which was attended by more than 200 civil servants where they were told that an effective civil service the country was needed for the country to enjoy a high level of development.