KUCHING: Senior Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof has slammed Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) secretary Senator Alan Ling over his claim that the construction of Miri Hospital’s building extension is a project planned to be implemented by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.
Fadillah, in response, said it was completely baseless.
“This is because the Miri Hospital Building Extension Construction Project has been approved by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister’s Department under the first rolling plan of the 11th Malaysia Plan (MP) in 2016.
“The project was officially accepted on March 28, 2016 through the Project Implementation Commence Form from the Ministry of Health,” he said in a statement ob Sunday (Nov 1).
He said the Public Works Department (JKR) has submitted a Letter of Agreement to the contractor on June 11, 2020, which is during the current government’s time, while the date of ownership of the site was given on June 25, 2020.
“The date of ownership of the Miri Hospital project site is on June 25, 2020. At that time, there was no contract formed between the government and contractor before the date. Then re-tender process was being carried out to ensure all the regulations are met,” he said.
Fadillah also said Alan’s claim that PH can save RM50 million for the project also shows that he does not understand what is the difference between the project ceiling and contract cost.
“The ceiling of the project is RM340 million, while the contract cost is RM289.2 million. Eventually, the ceiling cost and contract cost will be different.
“The ceiling cost is the allocation given, while the project cost is the value of the contract that the government awards to the contractor,” he said.
Therefore, he said that it was clear that Alan does not know the facts and issued statements blindly for the purpose of politicking and to criticise the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government.
“The claim that PH has proposed that a ground-breaking ceremony be held for Miri Hospital in March is baseless because the Project Site Ownership was on June 26, 2020.
“What the PH government did during the 22 months of ruling was just to claim credit on all the efforts and projects implemented by the previous government. And during its rule, they were busy politicking all the time causing the fall of the PH government,” he said.
He stressed that GPS has never hide any facts about Miri Hospital as alleged by Alan.
“Regarding the Lawas Hospital Construction Project, it has been approved by the EPU of the Prime Minister’s Department under the fourth Rolling Plan of the 11th MP in 2011.
“The project was officially accepted on July 29, 2011 through the Project Implementation Commence Form from the Ministry of Health and JKR has submitted a Letter of Agreement to the contractor on April 30, 2020. Contract value for this project is RM165 million,” he said.
He said while the date of the site ownership was given to the contractor on June 30, 2020, the completion date is Dec 26, 2023.
