Audit: Construction delays among weaknesses of Putrajaya Civil Servants housing project

Delays in construction and the failure to collect late completion fines from developers are among the weaknesses found in the Putrajaya Malaysian Civil Servants Housing Project (PPAM), although it is acknowledged that the project has helped low- and middle-income civil servants own quality homes at below-market value.

According to the Auditor-General's Report 2018, Series 3, the target of developing 8,980 PPAM houses had not been fully achieved as of April 30, 2019, with only 4,447 houses or 49.5 percent built within six years of the programme’s launch date on April 18, 2013.

The four completed projects are PPAM Selasih, Pudina, Larai and Palma.

The Pudina project which involved the construction of 1,504 houses was completed with a delay of 278 days, while the other three (2,943 houses) were completed within the stipulated period of 36 months.

Meanwhile, six projects were between 11 and 99 percent of completion, of which two (Kasturi and Saderi) were on track, and four (Melinjau, Jintan, Seruling and Ketumbar) had been granted extensions of between 160 to 523 days.

However, the report noted that as of Sept 17, 2019, PPAM Jintan and Melinjau had been completed, with a delay of between 143 to 217 days from the given deadline.

The report said there were also inefficiencies in terms of enforcing the collection of penalties for the delays in construction, with RM3.3 million in fines still not collected from the developers of PPAM Pudina and Jintan.

The Audit also found that the appointment of developers for five of the Putrajaya PPAM projects were not carried out in an orderly manner based on the request for proposal (RFP) method.

This is because according to the Putrajaya Corporation’s (PPj) letter to the chief secretary to the government dated July 25, 2013, PPj had in advance recommended to the chief secretary that the five developers who were offered the Letter of Intent by PPj be appointed as its partners in developing the PPAM projects on five development plots.

"PPj has taken note of this and will improve its methods of project implementation. PPj as the implementer of the PPAM programme acted by carrying out instructions from the government at the time," the report added.

- Bernama