KUCHING: Ninety-three dilapidated schools in Sarawak will be rebuilt under the state’s RM1 billion loan repayment to the federal government.
“The first trench of RM350 million of the RM1 billion loan repayment has been paid and it involved 41 schools which are already under construction and in the process of procurement.
“Another 52 schools under the second phase with an allocation of RM350 million paid under the second trench are currently in the pre-tender process,” said Minister of Works Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.
Fadillah said this in a press conference after attending a briefing with the Sarawak Public Works Department (JKR) on the dilapidated school projects at Wisma Saberkas yesterday.
He added that the third phase of the project which involves RM300 million is still being finalised.
“What we have discussed today is to identify issues raised during the implementation of the project and how we can fix them as quickly as possible.
“This is not only for the benefit of the students, but for the teachers as well as this includes fixing other facilities such as the administration building, hostels and teachers’ quarters,” he said.
In the meantime, Fadillah, who is also the Petra Jaya MP said in 2019, RM100 million was allocated by the federal government to rebuild 32 dilapidated schools in the state.
“Of the 32 schools, 18 schools had been completed while 12 are still under construction while two are still in process of tender,” he said.
The Ministry of Education (MoE) has appointed Sarawak JKR as the implementing agency for the dilapidated school projects.
After the briefing, Fadillah also went to SK Grogo in Bau to inspect the implementation of the dilapidated school project there.
