Wilson Ugak Kumbong
KUCHING: SK Punan Ba dormitory blocks which were supposed to be completed in March this year are still only half completed and the boarders continue to put up at temporary accommodation after the collapse of one of their dormitories in January last year.
Frustrated by the delay, Hulu Rajang MP Wilson Ugak Kumbong urged the project contractor to complete the project, warning that any further delay would force him to formally report the matter to the Education Department for investigation.
“This project is very dear to me because I fought hard for it at the federal level to get the fund. Now that the money is there, there should be no reason for it to be delayed,” Ugak told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Several attempts by The Borneo Post to contact the contractor the past few months on the work progress were not answered.
Meanwhile state PKR secretary, See Chee How, who has also been closely following the progress of SK Punan Ba dormitory building project said he had contacted Irok Industries general manager recently and he was told that they faced problems with the supplies of materials.
“His company has completed one hostel (out of 2) for the SK Punan Ba earlier this year. Then, they faced problems from the original supplier in Sabah for the pre-fabricated building materials.
“Their specs were found not to meet those specified by the ministry. They were forced to switch to another supplier from Kuala Lumpur,” said See.
The contractor requested to be given another month to deliver the remaining hostel and promised See a new completion date of end of September.
“I was told that new materials are scheduled to be shipped from Kuala Lumpur from Aug 28, and arriving in Sibu four days later before taking another two weeks to reach Punan Ba.
However, the Batu Lintang assemblyman said a new problem would emerge once both hostels were built as the collapsed dormitory has yet to be dismantled to give way to the new dormitories.
“My contact on the ground said there is a new problem now because the new hostels are built on the football field. The children will then have no safe ground to play when the other hostel is completed,” said See.
More than RM2 million has been allocated for the two dormitories at Punan Ba a settlement about two-hour boat ride from Belaga.
The verandah of the girls’ dormitory collapsed in Jan 2012 injuring 18 pupils, five of them seriously. The dormitory has since been left vacant and the girls were put up at the teachers’ quarters.
The other dorm housing the boys is also run down due to wear and tear. They have to move out and are staying at Sebiro Building near the school.
To hasten the completion of the new dormitories, it was decided that light weight concrete prefabricated slabs would be used to cut down construction time by a third compared to using conventional building materials.