Sabah’s RM1b road maintenance deal raises dust

Sabah PKR opined that something is 'seriously wrong' with the government which has renewed the long term contracts of

KOTA KINABALU: Despite spending hundreds of millions of ringgit annually on road maintenances, Sabah has not ‘one single decent road’. Knowing this, why has the government renewed the contracts of four contractors who performed ‘poorly’ in the past?

Posing this question, former Sabah minister Kong Hong Ming said there was no justification for the extension of the maintenance contracts.

“I understand the government has approved the extension of these monopolized contracts for another term.

“They have renewed their contracts for another 10 to 15 years starting this year even before the expiry of their existing ones.

“The total contract value will constitute RM800 million to RM1 billion a year of public spending in the future,” said Kong, who is now PKR Tawau division chief.

Kong stressed that the government must justify to the public such a heavy financial commitment into the future, especially knowing that the contractors had under-performed and were ineffective in maintaining public roads.

“Judging from the series of recurring complaints highlighted in the media by community leaders, opposition parties and even Barisan Nasional party members on the deplorable conditions of public roads throughout the state, it is obvious that something has gone seriously wrong with the performance of these monopolized road maintenance contracts awarded by BN government,” said Kong, who is a civil engineer turned lawyer.

He criticised the decision to commit the state to an RM1 billion a year expense to only four contractors as an unjustified debacle.

“Based on the existing contracts and huge spending per year, the people of Sabah should be enjoying reasonably good or at least well-maintained roads throughout the state.

“But there are obviously some discrepancies and irregularities between the big spending and actual work done on the ground.

“Despite frequent complaints, there is no obvious improvement on the poor road condition and network in the state.

“In Sabah, we have reached such a sorry state of affairs that even new roads are unfit, unsafe and unserviceable,” he said.

Unhealthy practice

Calling for transparency, Kong urged the government to appoint an independent body to audit, examine and review the performance and weaknesses exposed in the road maintenance contracts.

“Perhaps, there is no political will in this present administration to stop the unhealthy monopoly practice that is depleting the state resources to the maximum instead of optimizing public spending to benefit the public and local contractors in terms of job opportunity and employment,” he said.

He said the practice of issuing road maintenance contracts for public roads under the state and federal jurisdiction only began in 2002.

Prior to that, road maintenance was by the relevant departments or local contractors by way of competitive quotations and open tenders supervised by Public Works Department and local authorities.

“Each of these long term contract runs into hundred of million per year for 10 to 15 years,” he pointed out.

It is understood that at least one of the road contractors is closely-linked to Chief Minister Musa Aman and is also involved in other business dealings associetd to him.