Julaihi (second right) is seen on stage with Lugun (right), Karim (left) and Magid at the official launching of the PBC workshop. — Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi.
KUCHING: Performance-based contracts (PBC) is the preferred model when it comes to preservation and maintenance of road assets as it results in better quality of roads, according to Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd’s (CMS) Group chief executive officer – corporate Dato Isaac Lugun at yesterday’s PBC workshop opening ceremony.
The two-day workshop, held at the Borneo Convention Centre, was co-organised by CMS and the International Roads Federation (IRF).
According to Lugun, PBC was introduced by the World Bank and is now widely used in developed countries such as in Europe for the preservation and maintenance of road assets.
“PBC is the preferred model because the contractors are only paid upon achieving predetermined performance indicators or KPIs. As such, better quality of roads is delivered and for a lasting duration,” he said in his welcoming speech.
Lugun went on to highlight that the Sarawak Government is the first in Malaysia to adopt PBC for its maintenance of state roads.
CMS plays an important role in maintaining nearly 20 per cent of the state roads in Sarawak and has continuously improved its performance as evidenced by the independently verified Road Maintenance Index.
“We also pride ourselves in employing more than 800 dedicated Sarawakians who are spread across the state from cities such as Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu, Miri and all the towns like Simunjan, Kapit, Limbang, Lawas and Bario.
“With such strong presence in all the major towns and cities, CMS is uniquely positioned to respond at the shortest notice in the event of any untoward incidents involving our roads, including road collapse and landslides.”
The workshop marks an important milestone towards a new gold standard and global benchmark in quality for the management and maintenance of roads.
By bringing together the industry leaders in the field of PBCs, the workshop aims to create a world-class benchmark for others to follow.
Offering an objective and balanced view on PBCs and alternative road management systems, the two-day event is targeted at road and transport agencies’ executives, engineers and managers involved in highway maintenance, private consulatants and contractors, engineering firms and service providers.
It is billed as an open and collaborative platform to share, discuss and determine strategies to improve the approach towards road management and maintenance.
The event was officiated by the Assistant Minister for Coastal Road, Datuk Julaihi Narawi and comprise presentations by some of the international community’s distinguished and influential industry experts in PBCs.
Also present at the opening ceremony were CMS Roads Sdn Bhd (CMS Roads) CEO Karim Reduan and IRF vice president Magid Elabyad.
CMS, through its wholly owned subsidiary CMS Roads, was the first proponent for performance-based road maintenance contract in Malaysia, and shown it to be a shining example of success.
This format is now attracting interest as an example to be migrated for other Malaysian road concession renewals or even for government agencies who have not yet opted for maintenance to be privatised, placing greater emphasis on the workshop as a focus for national attention.
The event programme included two distinguished speakers representing the Asian Development and World Bank – Dr Asif Faiz, a PBC advisor and Janusz Sobieniak, a PBC consultant.
Faiz is a former World Bank Highways adviser and Infrastructure Sector manager with some 40 years of experience in designing, managing and implementing transport development policies, programmes and projects in more than 40 developing countries.
Sobieniak is an experienced and versatile Transport engineer who has worked for 30 years with donor agencies on transport sector projects in more than 40 developing countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.