KAPIT: Why has the renovation of the Kapit Sports Stadium been delayed?
The contractors claimed they haven’t been paid.
And the amount? A whopping RM2 million despite the completion of more than three quarters of the job.
Bukit Goram assemblyman Jefferson Jamit Unyat yesterday morning inspected the progress of renovation work on the stadium at Jalan Airport here to find out the cause of the delay.
The stadium has been closed down since early last year to enable renovation work to be carried out.
“I want to know what caused the delay. I met the main contractor, sub-contractor and staff of the Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Ministry. The contractors said that they have not been paid RM2 million although 72.1 per cent of the work have already been completed.
“They are now appealing for payment. Only after they have received the payment can they complete the project. They understand that the people of Kapit need the stadium badly,” Jamit said.
It was the assemblyman’s third visit since the sports field was closed to the public on March 2018 for the upgrading and repair to the Kapit Sports Complex.
Jamit was concerned with the delay as the sports complex was initially scheduled to re-open by the end of 2018.
During the hour-long visit, Jamit inspected the underground drainage piping, painting of the main building and storage of the running track materials.
The underground piping is worth about RM170,000 while materials for the running track are worth RM1.7 million.
The main contractor, Hilarion Bisi Jenggut of Pet Rocks Malaysia said although they had completed some 72. 1 per cent of the work, they had not received a single cent from the client, the Sarawak Sports Corporation.
“Without the payment, how could we continue?” he asked.
He said despite repeated requests in reminder letters dated February 27, March 6 and March 21, 2019 followed by phone calls, until today, they had not received a single cent from Sarawak Sports Corporation.
He further said a police report was lodged at Kapit Police Station on July 7, 2019 on the matter.
However, Hilarion assured they would complete the work because Kapit people needed the stadium very badly.
