Uggah (second left) and his wife Datu Doreen Mayang (second right), with Datuk Aidel Lariwoo and his wife, and the Permanent Secretary to the MIPD Chiew Chee Yaw, during the MIPD appreciation ceremony held recently.

KUCHING, Dec 15: The Ministry of Infrastructure and Port Development Sarawak (MIPD) has reduced the number of sick projects in the State from 96 in January last year to 17 this year.

In a statement, its minister, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, said out of the 17, four are State projects.

He also said the ‘one-month rule’ was implemented to ensure contractors begin work within a month of the project handover.

“Upon the failure to comply, action will be taken against the contractor, including termination of their contract,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Premier said the MIPD has created 414 new posts to increase the Public Works Department’s (JKR) Sarawak workforce capacity.

He said this will allow the respective divisional offices to cope with increasing workloads with greater efficiency and better service delivery.

“We have also set up a Rural Infrastructure Maintenance Unit in the Baram area as our pilot project.

“If it proves successful, we will expand this to other areas in Sarawak. This unit is critical for us to serve the people,” he said. — DayakDaily