‘Ministry of Works willing to take over 66 projects to upgrade dilapidated schools’
KUCHING: Ministry of Works is more than ready to take over the 66 projects to upgrade dilapidated schools ( DS) in Sarawak using the Industrialised Building System ( IBS).
Its newly-minted minister Baru Bian said these 66 DS projects, currently under the Ministry of Education ( MoE), were among the 116 DS projects that had been awarded to the state.
As of yesterday, the 50 DS projects that came under the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department (JKR) had registered 66 per cent completion.
“I have not been informed whether we are to take over (the 66 DS projects). We leave it to the ministry (of Education) whether they are willing to give that back to JKR.
“Of course, if they ( MoE) are willing to give those back to JKR, we are prepared to take them back. As of now, we have no power over the 66 ( DS projects),” he said at a news conference held at a hotel here yesterday.
Baru, who is Selangau MP and Ba Kelalan assemblyman, pointed out that IBS “is in fact a very good system used in Semenanjung” to improve DS in Peninsular Malaysia.
Based on the ministry’s records, he said IBS is an excellent approach and the agency managed to complete projects on schedule.
“I’m impressed by the statistics. In Sarawak, I’ve been informed that the manufacturer of the materials does not have the complete production to meet the needs of building those schools.”
He said other problems included transportation which had stalled the whole process of implementation.
“Without accessibility, you cannot transport materials to the interior schools. One of the solutions is to have good roads in the interior of Sarawak.
“This is the right ministry I should be in.
“Now I understand the problem we are faced with and therefore the construction and development of infrastructure should go hand in hand with all these,” he added.
Baru admitted that Sarawak lacked decent access roads into the interior areas, thereby causing difficulty in implementing school projects in the state.
“We understand the problem and I will be looking into it. I will meet state JKR on Monday (today) in the afternoon.
“I will hear a briefing from them to find out the challenge to bring all the ( IBS) materials to the interior Sarawak,” he said.
According to him, there is an IBS manufacturer in the state but this manufacturer does not offer complete components.
He added that Peninsular Malaysia had a major manufacturer to execute and deliver materials to various schools that needed improvement works.
Of late, it has been highlighted that there was an 85 per cent delay in the upgrading of DS schools in Sarawak using IBS.
On June 15, Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dato Sri Michael Manyin denied responsibilities for the delay in IBS school repair projects.
On June 17, former Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof accused Stampin MP and Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Chong Chieng Jen of making baseless claim about the 85 per cent delay in the implementation of the project.
The controversial issue was first raised by director-general of Implementation and Co-ordination Unit (ICU) in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Ahmad Zaki Ansore, who had been quoted as saying that the projects were awarded to a company via a package costing RM21.6 million.
Ahmad was reported to have specifically mentioned some schools that faced severe delay - SK Asajaya Ulu, SK Kampung Melayu and SK Endap in Kota Samarahan and SK Matang Jaya.