Pre-school students at SK Menuang in Limbang are now enjoying a bigger and conducive learning environment.
SK Menuang academic block
LAWAS: Students and parents of SK Long Sukang, a primary school in rural Lawas, are eagerly looking forward to the completion of their new school to replace their present school.
At the moment they have to bear with studying in old rundown classrooms while those who board at the school are living in dilapidated dormitories.
The long wait will soon be over as the new school has been completed, with a joint inspection for Certificate of Practical Completion (CPC) by the client and authorities conducted recently.
Most parts of the school have been completed, including the dormitories for both boys and girls, dining hall and a single storey pre-school building.
However, works for the partially built main block of the new school were ceased.
When contacted, the contractor which ‘rescued’ the school project, Naim Engineering Sdn. Bhd (Naim) explained that the said building was under a stop-work order by the client due to slope failure.
“The client issued a stop work order for this work as the ground on which it stands and the slope behind it is unstable,”said Siti Munirah, Naim’s Project Manager.
An alternative site has been identified for the main block but the students can soon move into the new dormitories and other facilities which have been completed.
The new SK Long Sukang was slated to be ready for use earlier but the project was initially delayed due to performance-related issues by Naim’s JV partner and further affected by the client’s ‘stop work’ order.
As a responsible corporate citizen, Naim decided to ‘rescue’ the project.
Although parents and students had to wait longer than expected the people of Long Sukang are relieved and happy that their children would finally go to a new school.
One of the parents, Hustina Balang, 30, whose children are in Primary Two and Five, said she had been hoping that the new school would be completed as soon as possible as the condition of the present school was not conducive for the children.
“For example, the dormitories for both boys and girls are in poor condition and crowded. When we heard that the new one which has been completed has better and more dormitories, we were excited and really looking forward for our children to move there,” she said when met at the village on Tuesday.
Hustina added some parts of the present school buildings were in disrepair and unsafe for the pupils as some of the ceilings had collapsed.
Sharing the same hope is Lipang Tadam, 62, who has three grandchildren studying in the new school.
She said they were disappointed when the project was left idle for a while and were not aware that Naim had taken over the project from the previous contractor.
“We are anxious, the new school is going to be good for our children and grandchildren here,” she said.
Meanwhile, Long Sukang headman Balang Asi, 77, said with the completion of the new school the village would look like a town.
“I went there a couple of times to see the progress of the school. Sometimes I asked the workers there why took it so long for the school to be completed as all
of us, parents and grandparents here are really looking forward to the new one,” he said.
Balang thanked Naim for rescuing the project.
Apart from rescuing SK Long Sukang, Naim also rescued two other schools, SK Menuang and SK Limbang in Limbang.
Parents of students in SK Limbang heaved a sigh of relief when the new school year started on Jan 2 as their children moved into the new school.
The school has 472 students including pre-school students and 43 teachers and the old school could hardly accommodate them.
“With a large number of students, this new school is much better and we have enough classrooms for the students,” one of
the teachers of the school said.
Rokiah Matali, 50, who lives in nearby Kampung Sibukang, was relieved that her two grandchildren no longer have to go the old school.
“When my grandchildren were studying at the old school before, the shoes were full of dirt when they come home each day. Apart from that, we have to climb the hill at the old school to fetch them and it was hard especially for old grandparent like me,” she said when met at her house on Tuesday.
While the other school, SK Menuang was completed, it was understood that the school will be furnished with chairs and tables soon.
Limbang District Education officer Mohamad Tangah when contacted by The Borneo Post shared the excitement of the students and their parents over the completion of the two “sick” schools in the district.
“Even though we waited for so long for the schools to be completed, we are indeed happy with the end results. The students now have a better school to go to,” Tangah said.
Siti explained that SK Menuang, SK Limbang and SK Long Sukang was part of works package allocated to another company, which was Naim’s joint-venture partner for the contract.
‘Under the joint works package awarded by the client, Naim was allocated eight school projects while the other company was allocated five.
While we completed the schools under our scope, our partner had performance-related issues in relation to three schools out of the five under their contract, which included SK Long Sukang, SK Menuang and SK Limbang. As such, these schools were categorised as ‘sick’ projects by the client,’ Siti said.
Siti added that Naim had decided to ‘rescue’ the affected schools in the interest of the schools and their students.
“We took over control of all activities in July 2013. We faced many challenges when we took over, including catching up on works, confronting unhappy previous subcontractors, previous debts and liquidated and ascertained damages, which we are trying to manage,” Siti said.
Siti disclosed that Naim recorded good work progress since then.
“Out of the three schools, we managed to obtain the CPC for these two schools, SK Menuang and SK Limbang on Nov 28 2013, earlier than the committed Dec 31 in the same year.
For SK Long Sukang, there was a joint Certificate of Practical Completion inspection by the client and authorities on Monday and things are going well.