THANK YOU: Foo (left) presents a memento to Chan witnessed by Wong (second left) and others.
KUCHING: The Kuching South City Council (MBKS) took about 10 days to rebuild the fire-razed Pending Seafood Centre shop lot to enable stallholders concerned to resume business without registering further losses.
City South mayor Datuk James Chan said the contractor gave full commitment to ensure that affected businessmen could have their trading spots back in the shortest possible time.
“They focused 100 per cent on the job because we did not want any delay for those doing business here. The affected outlets started business about a week ago,” he told reporters during an appreciation dinner at Pending Seafood Centre on Thursday.
New Hui Wang Seafood owner Vincent Foo hosted the gathering at which Minister of Local Government and Community Development Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh was guest of honour.
Chan said MBKS managed to do away with red tape and sped up the reconstruction work without compromising on proper procedure.
“This is a small project of RM100,000 or so, but be assured that the contractor’s quotation was all checked out.”
Wong said the project was approved by both MBKS and his ministry, hence should invite no query from any party.
He added it was properly assessed and evaluated by a quantity surveyor and certified at a reasonable price.
“So the council decided to go ahead with it. The project was done in a transparent and teamwork manner,” stressed Wong, who is also Second Finance Minister.
On July 6, an early morning blaze destroyed a five-unit single storey shop lot at Pending Seafood Centre, resulting in substantial losses to two stallholders there.
Chan immediately visited the site to survey the aftermath of the fire along with insurance personnel as well as potential contractors.