Julaihi (second right), Isaac (right) and Magid (second left) placing their hands on the plasma globe to symbolically officiate the PBC Workshop. Looking on is Karim (left). – Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi
KUCHING: Sarawak is gearing up for higher economic growth and to achieve a more balanced economic development through rural transformation initiatives, walkabout projects and initiatives under the digital economy agenda.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said a fundamental part of the state’s economic agenda revolves around increasing connectivity of its towns and its people.
“The total road length in Sarawak is currently approximately 51,312km comprising 30,361km of state roads; 1,541km of federal roads; and 19,411km of logging roads.
“As you can imagine, maintaining such an incredible network of roads is by no means an easy feat,” he said in his speech read by Assistant Minister of Coastal Road Datuk Julaihi Narawi at the Performance-Based Contract (PBC) Workshop organised by the International Roads Federation (IRF) in collaboration with Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad (CMS) at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here today.
He noted that among the challenges include availability of budget; weather; environment or ground condition such as peat and soft ground/clayish material; and response time to incidents as a result of being geographically spread out.
“Nevertheless, the state government has a duty to its people, and in this specific context, in connecting Sarawakians through road infrastructure.”
Abang Johari pointed out that this is where PBC, a results-oriented contract focusing on quality and outcomes, come in.
“It requires the contractor to achieve a predetermined performance indicator for each category of work before any payment from the employer is received,” he explained, adding that PBCs are now widely used in developed countries and are recommended by the World Bank for the preservation and maintenance of road assets.
He said CMS roads is at the forefront in terms of their experience with PBCs.
“They have been carrying out their road maintenance contract with the state government using PBCs for more than 15 years now.
“In fact, they were the first adopters in Southeast Asia of such a contract and are still the only one in Malaysia to adopt PBCs,” he revealed.
The PBC workshop, with its tagline ‘Spurring Growth, Connecting Sarawakians’, marked an important milestone towards a new gold standard and global benchmark in quality for the management and maintenance of roads.
Offering an objective and balanced view on PBCs and alternative road management systems, the two-day event is designed to help industry players stay on top of a fast-evolving and ever-innovative industry, which will condition the future of infrastructure development.
Also present were CMS Group chief executive officer – corporate Dato Isaac Lugun, IRF vice president Magid Elabyad and CMS Roads Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Karim Reduan.