SIBU: The Sarawak Public Works Department (PWD) has been directed to raise the red flag and taken harsh action when any construction work is delayed by 60 days.
The directive comes from Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas who said there are currently 340 sick (problematic) projects and 36 critically delayed projects state-wide.
Although the Covid-19 pandemic beginning in March 2020 had to a large extent contributed to the situation, there were also contractors and their subcontractors who failed to perform.
“Apart from the pandemic, we have contractors who face manpower, financial or building material problems as well as underperforming sub- contractors.
“So, we want all contractors awarded any projects to deliver as scheduled and in the required quality, especially with the pandemic situation having improved,” he said when visiting the Sibu Division PWD office here Tuesday (Jan 31).
Uggah called on all PWD offices in Sarawak to be prepared to take harsh actions, from now, against those not performing to expectations.
“You must have a black heart against them … no more treating them with kid gloves,” he said, adding that projects meant for the people’s benefit still suffered from delayed completion or, at worst, becoming critically delayed.
PWD, he said, should monitor the contractors’ performance closely and raise the red flag when any construction work was delayed by 60 days.
“We fear that if no action is taken, the situation can further deteriorate to end up as sick project.”
“I have said in the past too that if a contractor failed to start work within one month after the site handing, PWD could proceed with the contract termination,” he said.
He added the department was expected to handle more and more projects soon now that the state had been allowed the autonomy to implement federal projects worth RM50 million and below without referring to Putrajaya.
Uggah said the PWD Director Richard Tajan will have a new key performance indicator(KPI), which is “Zero Sick Project”.
In his briefing earlier, divisional engineer John Wong said his office was now looking after eight projects, namely, three dilapidated schools, an agricultural station, and four roads projects.
As of now, works are on-going and they are expected to be delivered as scheduled.
