Sabah railway project derailed

The much awaited Tanjung Aru-Tenom railway project in Sabah is doomed to fail because the contractor now wants an additional RM300 million.

KOTA KINABALU: The multi-million ringgit Sabah Railway project has gone off-track, more than three years after it was due to be completed.

The contractor who is reportedly unable to complete the RM330 million project is demanding an additional RM300 million to finish the job.

Sabah opposition figure Kong Hong Ming who disclosed this yesterday wants a full disclosure and explanation from the Transport Ministry.

Sabah’s sole railway line from Tanjung Aru to Tenom was scheduled to be completed in May 2008.

Kong, who is a member of PKR’s presidential council, said that the project at the Tenom approach has been at a near standstill since the end of 2008.

“The 139km railway project serving the West Coast to the Interior of Sabah is doomed to failure.

“It is unlikely that the people of Sabah will benefit from this important railway project as planned because of the long delay,” said Kong.

He said that the project is unlikely to be completed unless the government agrees to inject an extra RM300 million to bail out the existing joint venture contractor.

“The government must explain the delay and also if it will pay the additional RM300 million as demanded by the contractor,” he said.

Kong, a lawyer and a qualified civil engineer, said that as it is a design-and-build contract, it is against engineering practice, a waste of public funds and abuse of power for the government to entertain the contractor’s request.

He urged the relevant authorities including federal Auditor General and MACC to audit and investigate the status of this project and its account.

“There are serious concerns with regards to the overpayment of RM40 million when the project was under the management of Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB).

“The authorities were fully aware of the overpayment and yet trying to justify that it was the main reason causing the delay of work largely for the Tenom approach,” said Kong.

He accused the government of not supervising the work during the first 18 months of the construction which resulted in the huge overpayments.

Describing it as unusual and improper, he said the government could have paid for items which were not supposed to be paid for under the contract.

Government mismanagement

He also said that despite non-completion of the project, the state railways department has proceeded to put to use the partially completed railway system.

“There are serious implications, including contractual disputes and most importantly, public safety as well as consequential liabilities in so many aspects,” he warned.

Kong said this was another important infrastructure project by the federal government that has gone seriously wrong because of mismanagement, which is unacceptable.

“Similarly, there was no action taken on my complaints on the RM565 million Kalabakan-Sepulut road project.

“It was contracted out for a sealed road linking Tawau to Sabah West Coast but only a gravel road was constructed instead and at the same price,” said Kong.

“Since its completion, the supposedly link road between Tawau to Kota Kinabalu is in bad condition and not safe for the people to drive on.

“The federal government has already agreed to pump in another RM200 million to seal the road, which should have been done under the last contract,” he said.

Kong said the government should explain why it was spending public money in this way without due diligence.

“They are making announcements of huge allocations and mega projects for Sabah but the people do not benefit from it because of wasteful spending, corruption, abuse of power and poor delivery system.

“This is one of the reasons why Sabah is still lagging behind in many aspects, especially in vital basic infrastructure despite spending billions of development fund in Sabah,” he said.