Uggah: S’wak does not victimise, discriminate against Chinese firms involved in state’s largescale infrastructural projects

KUCHING (Jan 22): The impression that the state government victimises or discriminates against firms from China involved in big infrastructural projects in the state is not true, said Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

He explained such impressions came about after the contract for the construction of the Rambungan Bridge here was terminated recently.

According to him, a firm from China was involved in the construction of this much delayed project.

“Actually, we have a number of engineering firms from China involved in the implementation of our big infrastructural projects with local partners statewide.

“We have always been very objective in our assessment of any contractor’s performance in our project,” he told the media after visiting the construction site of the Batang Saribas 2 bridge in Beladin, Betong today.

Uggah, who is Minister of Infrastructure and Port Development, had earlier visited the construction sites of the Batang Lupar 1 and Batang Saribas 1 bridges. He was joined by China’s Consul General Xing Weiping, the ministry’s permanent secretary Datu Chiew Chee Yau and Public Works Department deputy director Meehann Jorai.

Uggah said he invited Xing to let him understand the situation.

“We want to show him how we conduct our project implementation progress briefing. As a matter of fact, these three bridge projects also involve contractors from China.

“We have also informed him that should they fail to show the expected performance, there will be a time when we have to terminate their contracts like we did in the Rambungan bridge project.

“We are not victimising or discriminating against anyone” he said.

Uggah said in situation of the Rambungan bridge project, the government was just imposing its regulations and laws.

“We want to ensure contractors are responsible for completing their projects on time. I hope Xing will understand our approach.”

He added he had informed all three Chinese firms involved in the bridge projects to speed up the construction, as they were all behind schedule.

On the RM848.745 million Batang Lupar 1 bridge project, Uggah said he was happy with its progress.

“There were some small issues, which we advised the contractor to find ways to resolve as soon as possible. We expect this bridge to be completed by November 2025 if all goes well,” he said.

On the Batang Saribas 1 bridge, he said the RM375.5 million project was slated to be completed by April 2025.

“We had a fruitful discussion with the contractor over some issues. At the moment, their performance progress is not satisfactory – the actual physical progress is 76.6 per cent against the scheduled 86.54 per cent.

“They also faced some issues, which we have advised them to resolve so as to improve their performance,” he said.

On the Batang Saribas 2 bridge, he said the RM385 million project was expected to be ready by August 1, 2025.