Soon Koh dares Ho Leng to bid for project to improve Rejang River

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KUCHING: The Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) will soon call for tender to improve Rejang River in Sibu, revealed Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh.

With this development, he challenged Bukit Assek assemblyman Wong Ho Leng to bid for the project as he (Ho Leng) had agreed to dredge the river bed for free.

“It is the time for Wong Ho Leng to fight for the well-being of Sibu people. He should walk the talk. He should bid for the project,” Soon Koh said in an interview yesterday.

Ho Leng said in the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting Friday that he had proposed to the government to dredge the Rejang River bed last November – one of the measures he believed would help mitigate floods in Sibu more effectively.

“The Barisan Nasional (BN) government agreed with it, but did nothing so far. Another of my proposals is removing the bottle-neck along the Rejang River, especially at Pulau Kerto.

“The federal government gave RM30 million to start the project. No work had started. The Minister of Finance II even challenged me to dredge, but he was unable to give me the licence when I agreed to do it free of charge together with dredging the river-bed,” he told the august house.

Soon Koh, also Environment and Public Health Minister, reminded Ho Leng to form a company first before bidding for any government project.

“As a responsible government, we can’t simply give any project to any company without assessing its ability and capability such as the financial status and technical skills. How can the government give a project to Ho Leng who doesn’t even have a related company to do the project?

“Democratic Action Party (DAP) keeps calling for open tender, keeps shouting for transparency on government projects. What Ho Leng has been asking (the license) is obviously contradicting DAP policy,” stressed Soon Koh, the Bawang Assan assemblyman.