AG Report: Milk project gone sour

The Auditor General points out, among other, that milk cartons were not stored according to specifications, risking damage and contamination.

PETALING JAYA: The 1Malaysia Milk Project (PS1M) failed to meet its objective in providing quality milk to school students despite millions spent on it, said the Auditor-General’s Report 2012 .

In the report, the AG said that the Education Ministry had appointed four contractors, via direct negotiations, for the project which is worth RM188.33 million.

“But after the Education Ministry studied the details of the contract, it was revised to RM170. 93 million,” said the AG.

The companies awarded the contacts were Hybrid Allied Sdn Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Konsuma Sdn Bhd and Sabah International Dairies Sdn Bhd.

The project was initially intended to provide milk, twice a week, to 3.1 million primary school students all over Malaysia.

But an audit done between June 2012 and September last year found that the contractors failed to produce the quantity needed to match the demand.

Contractors slacking

And due to the limitation, the milk cartons were instead, only channelled to those in rural areas and those from low income families.

“As for Sabah, milk was supplied only to students studying between Year 4 and Year 6 as the rest were provided milk by the Sabah Foundation,” said the report.

Among other glitches found in the PS1M project were that the milk were not distributed on schedule and the milk cartons were not kept in proper storage, risking damage and contamination.

The AG report found that instead of the contractors preparing temporary storage facility to store the milk cartons, the products were stored in school libraries, suraus or even storerooms under the stairs.

“And the milk were not kept 15 centimetres above the floor and 15 centimetres away from the wall as per the guideline, which puts the milk cartons at risk of being damaged or contaminated.

“When we spoke to the teachers, they said there were not aware of the procedures and claimed that the contractors did not inform them of the guidelines,” said the report.

The report added that the several contractors did not send a representative to the schools when the milk cartons were distributed to students, as per the agreement, in order to test the milk before being given away.

“And the teachers were not also not aware that a representative from the contractor was required to be present,” said the report.