Clearing the air over grass cutting fund

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KUCHING: The recent statement on the exhaustion of federal funds for maintaining federal roads by October last year resulting in the stoppage of grass cutting at these roads for November and December by Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Chong Chieng Jen is misleading says DAL HCM Sdn Bhd Chief Executive Officer Dzulkarnaen Ahmad.

Dzulkarnaen holds up one of the official letters during the interview.

DAL HCM is the concessionaire for maintenance works on federal roads across Sarawak.

According to Dzulkarnaen a concession agreement was inked between DAL HCM and the Works Ministry on Feb 14 last year for the company to maintain the roads for 10 years, as of Sept 1, 2018.

“Although the concession agreement was signed between us and the government on Feb 14, 2018, it took effect only from Sept 1, 2018.

“We started maintenance works on federal roads only on Sept 1 last year – I don’t understand the meaning of ‘using up the federal funds’ as alleged by YB Chong (Chieng Jen),” he told The Borneo Post and Sin Chew Daily in an arranged interview here yesterday.

Dzulkarnaen pointed out that Chong had been misleading the people with his statements on the issue recently.

“How did we ‘use up the funds’ when the concession agreement that we signed only took effect on Sept 1, 2018?

“In fact, we were instructed by the JKR (Public Works Department) Sarawak (not to do grass-cutting) based on a letter of notice issued by the Ministry of Finance (MoF),” stressed Dzulkarnaen.

An excerpt of the letter from JKR Sarawak, dated Oct 29, 2018, reads: “Please be informed that the scope of works RO3 (grass cutting) and RO4 (maintenance of road furniture) will be excluded in the month of November-December 2018.”

On this, Dzulkarnaen said such directive could have meant for the savings to cater for the ‘front loading’ – this phrase refers to the works that have been done.

Based on the letter of notice from the MoF, he said it indicated that the federal government might have the intent to conduct some reviews.

“Perhaps they wanted to check whether this was overpriced —but there’s no such issue. The rates have not been reviewed for 10 years. We are helping the government by agreeing to the old rates.”

Dzulkarnaen felt that Chong should not have gone to the press with his allegations before conducting any check with the Works Ministry.

On whether Chong did check with the MoF, which told him that the federal funds had been used up, Dzulkarnaen argued: “Did he go to the right source? I mean, he (Chong) is a lawyer; how could he make then allegations without (fact) checking them with the Works Ministry?”

“I’m quite puzzled that he (Chong) did not check the facts.”

Dzulkarnaen said a concessionaire is a partner to the federal government – in this case, DAL HCM is a partner to the government.

“We are not a political company. I’ve been doing road maintenance since 2003. DAL HCM is a joint-venture company formed to bid (for) this project – DAL owns 70 per cent, and HCM, 30 per cent.

“Our scope of works includes routine and periodic works. Routine works include grass-cutting, drain cleaning, maintaining the bridges and (mending) potholes.”

He said in order to carry out periodic works, which include resurfacing of federal roads, additional funds would be required.

However, Dzulkarnaen said he could not disclose the sum that the federal government was paying the company for maintenance works on the federal roads in Sarawak.

It is learnt that the federal roads stretch over 730km across Sarawak, and this does not include the Pan Borneo Highway. Some examples of the federal roads are parts of Jalan Batu Kawa, Jalan Tun Jugah, Jalan Tun Razak, Jalan Kuching-Serian (minus the Pan Borneo Highway), Jalan Mambong-Serian and Jalan Bakun.

“For example, if it requires RM2,000 to maintain every kilometre of the federal roads, it would cost some RM1.4 million (for the whole 730km stretch),” he said.

Dzulkarnaen pointed out that DAL HCM had acted according to the directive issued by JKR Sarawak, which in turn took the order from the Works Ministry.

“We followed as instructed. So there’s no issue of misappropriation of funds. Furthermore, we’re paid monthly and our works are monitored closely by JKR Sarawak.

“The officers from the Works Ministry also come over to inspect the roads themselves sometimes.

“Anyway, grass-cutting (service) has resumed. Everything is back to normal now,” he added.

According to Dzulkarnaen, the grass-cutting at all federal roads is done once a month; it is twice a month for protocol roads.

In Kuching, the protocol roads are Jalan Tun Razak, Jalan Tun Jugah and Jalan Airport.

In definition, federal roads are those gazetted by the federal government – and state roads, by the state government.

In Sarawak, the total length of state roads is at least 6,000km. There are also council roads, which fall under the jurisdiction of the respective local councils.

Dzulkarnaen also suggested those wanting to figure out which road is federal’s and which is state’s, to refer to Google Map, that would label the roads with either a number or the letter ‘Q’.

“Roads that have labels that begin with a number like 800, are federal roads; those with labels starting with Q are state roads.”

A quick check on Google Map shows Jalan Tun Jugah, which is a federal road, has a label that begins with the number ‘801’, while the label for Jalan Laksamana Cheng Ho is ‘Q130’ – indicating that it is a state road.

Asked about the danger to road users should the grass along the roads remain unkempt for a prolonged period, Dzulkarnaen said: “JKR Sabah has done a study on the impact of grass-cutting along the roads being stopped – that study shows that if the road shoulder is overgrown with grasses, it would stop water from going to the ditch and the water (there) would turn stagnant, which would result in ponding’ this can cause accidents, especially those involving motorcyclists.”

According to Dzulkarnaen, DAL HCM is in the midst of setting up its platforms on social media such as Facebook and Twitter, to receive public complaints over the maintenance of federal roads.

Nevertheless, he said before these accounts are ready, the public would have to lodge their complaints via Talikhidmat on 555 999, or send email to [email protected].

Talikhidmat is a fixed line set up by the Sarawak government to receive input and gather grievances over various matters from the community.