Dr Sim to contractors: Speed up projects, or get blacklisted

KUCHING: Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian is concerned over the delayed progress on the construction of the covered basketball court at Batu Kawa Min Lit Secondary School.

The Batu Kawah assemblyman urged the contractor to expedite the work and complete the project within the contractual timeline to ensure the students and teachers at the school can benefit from the facility as soon as possible.

“The RM350,000 development project for the covered basketball court is part of the Rural Transformation Programme (RTP) initiative for Batu Kawa.

“Padawan Municipal Council (PMC) awarded the project on April 4, with construction expected to take five months and be completed by Sept 3.

A construction worker carrying out works at the project site.

“As of the latest progress report, the construction should have reached 74 per cent completion by now. However, it has only achieved 55 per cent, indicating a significant delay of 19 per cent,” he said in a statement.

Dr Sim, who is also Public Health, Housing, and Local Government Minister, went gave a stern warning to contractors awarded government projects.

“Contractors must complete their projects on time or face the serious consequence of being blacklisted by the government,” he said, adding that the Sarawak government’s stance is very clear — fulfilling government contracts is a matter of both credibility and responsibility.

“Contractors must complete projects on time to ensure that the ultimate purpose of government development, which is benefiting the people, is effectively realised,” he said.

Dr Sim also pointed out the state government is poised to undertake more development projects with Sarawak’s increased revenue in recent years.

Earlier, during an inspection by the Sarawak Implementation Monitoring Unit (SIMU), along with PMC, Resident’s Office, Batu Kawah Service Centre, and the relevant authorities issued a warning to the contractor regarding the delay on the project.

PMC had already issued two warning letters to the contractor on April 30 and July 16, respectively.