RM68.5m approved but Ipoh roads in shoddy state

DAP man lodges police report over possible abuse of RM68.5 million approved for road repair works in Ipoh city between 2008 and 2011.

IPOH: DAP Buntong assemblyperson A Sivasubramaniam wants the Ipoh City Council to account for RM68.5 million allocated for road repair works in the city area, including his constituency.

He said the Perak state assembly had approved RM64 million in November last year, while RM4.5 million was allocated for Buntong this April.

Sivasubramaniam said he conducted checks around Buntong and found that roads in several areas including Kampung Baru, First Garden and Taman Risah were in deplorable condition.

He said there were numerous potholes and worn out road surfaces and whatever repair works carried out were shoddily done.

“I’m worried that RM64 million of public funds approved between 2008 and 2010 might have been misused, ” said Sivasubramanaim.

He lodged a police report at the Kampung Baru police station in Buntong over the matter and also urged the MACC to probe into the expenditure of RM68.5 million.

He claimed that the state government had neglected to improve the roads or for that matter carry out maintenance work in the Buntong area for the past 20 years.

Sivasubramaniam wants to know how the Ipoh City Council had dispersed these funds for road repair works in the Ipoh city area over the past four years.

“Why didn’t the Buntong councillor monitor the road contractors between 2008 and 2011 to ensure that the funds allocated were used for the designated purpose?” he asked.

He said road repair work in his area were done in shoddy manner as many patch up jobs were peeling off and not up to the standard set by the JKR( Public Works Department).

He wants the Ipoh Mayor to pay a visit to the Buntong area and make spot checks on the conditions of the roads.