KUCHING: The Ministry of Infrastructure and Port Development (MIPD) has upgraded the Public Works Department (JKR) Sarawak workforce capacity by creating 414 new posts this year to enable the respective divisional offices to cope with increasing workloads efficiently.
Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Emas said a rural infrastructure maintenance unit in the Baram area has been set up as a pilot project to ensure better service delivery.
“If it proves successful, we will expand this to other areas in Sarawak. This unit is very critical for us to provide service to the people.
“Then we have set up a fund for emergency response works for damaged infrastructure with a scheme value of RM500 million and the 12th Malaysia Plan ceiling is RM150 million,” he said during the ministry’s appreciation and pre-Christmas gathering here last night.
Uggah said the outgoing 2023 will be a year to remember with a number of notable achievements made by his ministry.
Apart from that, he said, funds had been approved to dredge and deepen a channel and building bunds on both sides of the Kuala Baram leading to the Miri Port Terminal to allow vessels to berth there.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg had during a visit there in February announced a grant of RM230 million for the purpose.
“We have also succeeded in getting the federal government to return the Bintulu Port to us. This is a landmark achievement by our Premier in the fight for the return of Sarawak rights to Sarawak under the Malaysia Agreement 1963,” he added.
On sick projects, Uggah said in January 2022, he had his hands full in dealing with 96 critically sick projects but the figure has now significantly reduced to 17 of which four are state projects.
“In dealing with this issue too, we have now in place the ‘One Month Rule’ where contractors must begin their work at the site within one month of the project handover.
“If they failed to comply, we will take action, including terminating the contract,” he said.
Uggah said improving efficiency at the Samalaju Port was another great achievement, where the ministry had engaged with the stakeholders and had been able to resolve several operational issues.
Currently, the turnaround time has been reduced from an average 13 days last year to seven days this year.
“I am very happy with this progress. I hope we can push the bar to only four days next year,” he added.
Prior to the intervention of the ministry, Uggah said, they had received grouses and complaints from the business community utilising the port, especially on the long vessel turnaround time which added to their operation costs.
He said the efficiency on the ground should be improved further so that investors could expand their business and also woo more investors to invest as well.
On the ministry’s financial spending performance, he said the performance this year is forecast to be at 72 per cent with a budget of RM796.7 million.
Last year it was at 68.2 per cent on a budget of RM642.8 million.
“For next year, we have a budget of RM799.5 million. Therefore, we must work very hard together to achieve our target of 100 per cent. We need as well to reduce the bureaucracies that hamper our efforts and target achievement.
“I hope we will keep the momentum and constantly work hard to address issues raised in a prompt and amicable manner,” he said.
