JKR urged to beef up efforts in resolving ‘sick’ projects

Uggah (second right) uses a pen tablet to officiate the conference while Richard (third left), Cassidy (right) and others look on.

MIRI (Oct 19): The Public Works Department (JKR) has to beef up its efforts in resolving some 60 ‘sick’ projects in the state within the coming three years.

Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah stressed this in his speech when officiating at ‘JKR Senior Officers Conference 2022’ at a leading hotel here on Monday.

“This is my hope and Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg’s expectation. It is also the high expectation of the people.

“I am very confident we all can accomplish this but we must beef up our efforts. We can always discuss how we can speed up the process.”

Out of the total ‘sick’ projects, Uggah, who is Minister of Infrastructure and Ports Development, said 30 to 40 of these projects were in very critical condition.

“Rescue contractors can manage at least 20 of them.

“Others can be saved through the Variation of Price (VOP) clause.”

He explained one of the issues that caused ‘sick’ projects was in the selection of the contractors, adding that there is a need to get the right or reputable contractors.

In this regard, he said there has been a suggestion that there should be a seminar to discuss on how the state government can have a mechanism for JKR to get such contractors to implement the projects.

“We can relook at the process, the approach that we can take. The sole objective is to put an end to occurrences of ‘sick’ projects.

“Our Premier too wants us to have this seminar. I hope we can organise this before the end of the year.”

On the implementation of Sarawak’s Post Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030, he reminded JKR that the department played a very crucial role in infrastructure development.

“This is one of the pillars of the strategy.

“Infrastructure development is still an issue to be addressed for Sarawak to be a developed and high-income state by 2030.”

He said further that Sarawak still needed over 7,000 km of road to connect every village or settlement from Lundu to Limbang as well as upgrading of over 4,000 km of roads.

“Looking at the costs involved, it is very scary.

“But these are the targets we need to look at and to implement by 2030.”

He also admitted that it was another challenge for JKR to be accountable and a department with high integrity.

Therefore, he suggested JKR to explore and study the many modern technologies in road and bridge construction and in monitoring system which it could adopt for greater efficiency in delivering, such as by utilising drone technology.

On the conference, he hoped JKR would do the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis to enhance its performance, especially pertaining to sick projects.

He said there should be minimal foot dragging in decisions, plans and promises made and in actions to be taken.

A total of 151 officers attended the three-day conference.

Also present were JKR Sarawak director Richard Tajan and JKR Sarawak deputy director Cassidy Morris.

from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3eKQu47
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