KUCHING: State Health director Datu Dr Zulkifli Jantan hopes the proposed Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) multi-storey carpark project will start before the end of this year.
He admitted the project was supposed to start in July this year but it was put off due to some technical issues.
“The (federal) Attorney General’s (AG) Office is looking at the contract documents in detail. Once the AG approves the contract documents, we hope work can start, hopefully before end of the year,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Asked about the project cost, Dr Zulkifli replied: “It is with UKAS (Public Private Partnership Unit). I do not have any detail.” But, he added, Kuching North City Commission (DBKU), Land and Survey Department and State Planning Authority (SPA) had already approved the project.
On April 20 this year, Dr Zulkifli had told The Borneo Post that although the carpark project was still awaiting permits from the three state authorities, it (project) had been awarded to a local contractor.
“All the preparations are completed. The project was awarded end of last year and we are now waiting for the permits from the local authorities. The project would start soon and will be implemented in stages,” he had said then.
Last month, Stampin MP Julian Tan queried why the project was still pending implementation despite a Parliament reply he received last December stating that it would commence in July this year.
“The latest response from Parliament was that the project will commence around July 2015, but I have not seen any tangible action. I want to ask the relevant authorities what is going on,” he told a press conference at the DAP Stampin Service Centre here.
Tan said he had requested for details on the project, such as companies involved, contracts given, and deadlines, in Parliament, adding: “However, answers given were not satisfactory.”