KUCHING: Minister of Local Government and Housing Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian says the rate of work progress of Petra Jaya Hospital that he presented in the august House was obtained from the Health Ministry and Public Works Department in Kuala Lumpur.
He thus refuted claim by Padungan assemblyman Wong King Wei that he (Dr Sim) has misled the House when presenting the report on the progress of the hospital during the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting in May and November last year.
“Petra Jaya Hospital is being built by a federal government agency and not my ministry. We are only doing a watching brief,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
The press conference held at the DUN media room was to reply a motion tabled by Padungan rep on Tuesday for the misleading facts and figures produced in the august House by Dr Sim in May and November DUN sitting last year.
Wong said that Dr Sim, in his ministerial winding-up speech on the May 18 last DUN sitting year, had told the House that the actual progress of Petra Jaya Hospital as at April 23 was 46.77 per cent, and at the Nov 17 last year DUN sitting, said the actual progress as at Oct 22 was 27.68 per cent .
Wong also said that on July 3, during a presentation made to the newly appointed Minister of Health, in which Dr Sim was also present, the actual progress of the hospital was reported to be 33.71 per cent as at April and 32.71 per cent as at October last year.
“On the face of it, there is a reduction in actual progress from 46.77 per cent to 27.68 per cent (-19.09 per cent).The difference in the figures is due to the change in the methodology in assessing progress of works based on man-days to financial progress, as explained by JKR Malaysia, which is the implementing agency of the project (Petra Jaya Hospital),” Dr Sim said.
He also said that from the commencement of the project until June last year, the JKR has assessed the progress of works based on actual man-days put in by the contractor against the total man-days required to complete the project.
Dr Sim added that in April last year, the progress of work was 46.77 per cent (seriously delayed), but the financial progress was reported at 33.71 per cent which shows a sizeable difference between the actual progress against the financial progress.
“In order to reflect more accurately the actual progress and financial progress of the project, the JKR decided to change the assessment methodology in June last year from man-days assessment method to financial progress assessment method.
“So in the November last year DUN sitting, under the new assessment method, the actual progress as at October last year was 27.68 per cent,” he said, adding the new method of assessment based on financial progress was more reflective of the actual progress on site.