Baru Bian
KUCHING: Around 20 out of 183 dilapidated schools in the state are currently being upgraded using the Industrialised Building System (IBS) concept.
This was stated in a written reply from the Chief Minister to Ba Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian’s question on the status of repairs to dilapidated schools in Sarawak and how much was needed to repair or rebuild all dilapidated schools during the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting in November last year.
According to the statement which was posted on the state PKR chairman’ Facebook page yesterday, the government has approved an allocation of RM366.7 million to upgrade 183 dilapidated schools using the IBS concept and this overall project is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Apart from that, seven full replacement projects under the Second Rolling Plan of the 10th Malaysia Plan costing RM244.28 million will also be implemented this year.
The written statement, which was received by Baru yesterday, also pointed out that out of 1,453 schools in the state, the state Education Department had identified 1,020 schools which were in dilapidated condition or in general, more than 30 years old.
Out of this figure, around 415 schools were in very dilapidated condition, with buildings more than 50 years old.
The statement dated March 20 also provided a rough estimate to maintain, upgrade and replace these schools at around RM18 billion.
“Throughout the five-year 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015), around RM2.5 billion was allocated for education infrastructure development throughout Sarawak,” it said.
It also noted that among the initiatives to address issues concerning dilapidated schools last year were that 22 school projects (new and full replacement) were approved and were currently in the design phase with an estimated cost of RM965 million.