Chong (third right) chairs a meeting with officers from IPU to look into the problems raised.
KUCHING: The Pakatan Harapan-led federal government welcomes all criticisms on projects undertaken by contractors appointed by Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) of the Prime Minister’s Department, says Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen.
“As part of the new Pakatan Harapan federal government, we welcome all criticisms on
the implementation of projects using government fund. We also take such criticism seriously,” said Chong, who is Stampin MP.
Chong was responding to Sarawak United Peoples’ Party statements published in Chinese daily newspapers recently that highlighted the unsatisfactory conditions of projects implemented in Batu Kawa under his MP allocation.
Upon reading the reports, Chong said that he immediately flew back to Kuching after his parliamentary sitting on Wednesday night in Kuala Lumpur and convened a meeting with officers from IPU to find out the root cause of the problem.
For upgrading works of Jalan Kim Sing off Jalan Kim Choo Seng, Batu Kawa that was complained by SUPP, Chong said a 10-metre stretch of the whole 218 metres of road tarred under the project was found to be wavy.
“The officer reported that the 10-metre stretch was that the portion of the road had failed the coring test conducted by ICU upon completion. The contractor was instructed to re-surface that part, but the work was done manually,” said Chong who visited the project sites complained by SUPP.
As a result, Chong said ICU had instructed the contractor to re-surface the 10-metre portion again.
“Upon my physical inspection on site, the steam roller was there and the second re-surfacing work will be carried out next week,” said Chong at a press conference after officiating at a Back-to-School programme at AEON Mall Kuching Central yesterday.
As for the project located at Jalan Batu Kawa/Bau, Chong said that the roads pointed out by SUPP that appears to be partially tarred while the other section’s road surface appears uneven was not within the job specification part of the project.
He pointed out the upgrading work is only in respect of the lane branching off from the main road and the main road as shown by SUPP is supposed to be maintained by Padawan Municipal Council, who has neglected their road maintenance duty.
“As the contractor has extra tar after doing the job under my allocation, he, out of his goodwill, tried to patch up the bigger potholes on the main road,” said Chong.
For project at Lorong 1 Jalan Sungai Tapang (near SJK Chung Hua Sungai Tapang Hilir), Batu Kawa, he said that SUPP has again pointed out a road that was only partially tarred.
Chong told journalists that officer from ICU has informed him that the whole stretch of gravel road at the site was one kilometre in length but the fund was only enough to tar 150 metres of the road.
In accordance with the request of residents, Chong said the project focused on the portion of the road that is on a steep slope, as without tarring the road, vehicles travelling up the road would have the tendency to skid off.
“Given the danger that the gravel road going up the slope posed to road users, we, at the request of the residents, used the limited fund to prioritise the tarring of that part of the road,” said Chong.
Chong said that SUPP has yet again pointed out an issue that does not fall within the job scope of the project.
In fact, he said the residents nearby have requested SUPP to tar the road for over five years but to no avail and they were glad when the new federal government’s elected representative acted on their request.
Chong said only the complaint raised by SUPP regarding the project at Jalan Kim Sing was valid though exaggerated while the other two complaints on projects at Jalan Batu Kawa/Bau and Lorong 1 Jalan Sungai Tapang do not fall within the job scopes of the projects.
“It would be good if, in future, they could verify with my assistant first before embarrassing themselves publicly by barking up the wrong tree,” said Chong.
Besides, now that the matters have been clarified, Chong hoped SUPP would contact Padawan Municipal Council to carry out immediate repair works on the roads concerned and he pointed out that Minister of Local Government and Housing Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian is also an elected state assemblyman for Batu Kawa.
“As for Dr Sim, as a state assemblyman, he has RM9 million at his disposal every year, not including the minister’s allocation. Why are there still so many gravel roads in Batu Kawa?” asked Chong.