Only two 'sick' projects under Works Ministry in Sabah

 

PARLIAMENT | Only two projects under the Works Ministry in Sabah are categorised as “sick” or problematic, namely the Papar Hospital and the Tawau Hospital, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Deputy Works Minister Arthur Joseph Kurup (above) said the two projects were classified as “sick” projects because the construction was completed late beyond the schedule.

“We will take steps to complete all the ‘sick’ projects so that they can be completed for the convenience of the people of Sabah according to the set cost,” he said during a question and answer session at the Dewan Rakyat in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said this in his reply to a supplementary question from Chan Foong Hin (Harapan-Kota Kinabalu) who wanted to know the status of the “sick” projects in Sabah, the reasons and monitoring measures to prevent it from recurring.

In November last year, the media reported that 15 infrastructure projects under the Works Ministry in Sabah and Sarawak were classified as “sick” projects.

Arthur said the ministry also implemented several mechanisms including monitoring contractors as well as the frequency of meetings on the site, considering extensions or issuing warning letters and starting the process to terminate the contractor involved, if necessary, to address the “sick” project issues.

He said until February this year, six federal road construction projects and 10 projects involving construction and upgrades of bridges along federal roads have been approved in Sabah.

“Four of the six federal road infrastructure projects are in the construction phase by the Sabah Public Works Department and are expected to be completed by the middle of this year, while the remaining two projects are in the planning and design phase.

“The total cost for the six federal road construction projects is RM1.6 billion,” he said.

As for the latest status of the 10 projects involving construction and upgrades of bridges, Arthur said one was currently in the construction phase while the other nine were in the procurement phase and were scheduled to start in the middle of this year.

- Bernama