‘Upkeep of facilities costing govt RM10bil annually’

PUTRAJAYA: The lack of quality in maintaining and managing national assets must be addressed because it cost the government some RM10bil annually to upkeep these facilities, says Works Minister Baru Bian.

There are 38,000 registered premises comprising 170,000 building blocks in the government’s management of fixed assets list.

“Some of the contracts awarded to manage and maintain government facilities do not meet required quality and standards. These must be looked into and rectified,” Baru said at the opening of a convention on national asset and facility management.

A huge amount of money is being spent every year for this purpose, with the Works Department alone spending RM1.9bil to service management facility contracts in 2017 with another RM832.7mil spent to maintain federal roads.

With the management of assets and facilities expected to undergo drastic changes in the next five years, the minister said plans were afoot to revisit an 11-year-old policy to ensure the care of properties were more comprehensive.

This, he added, was also necessary in line with the country’s current economic and financial standings.

Baru said the government asset management policy, which has been in place since 2009, would also be reviewed to make it more relevant, fulfil the demands of the people and aspirations of the new government.

“We should look at it from the early stages. For instance, when an asset or facility is being designed, its maintenance aspect should be looked into to ensure that it will be easy to manage.

“This will help lessen operational and maintenance costs,” he added.

Baru noted that developed countries were already implementing comprehensive and integrated asset management policies to ensure efficiency.

“By relooking the policy, we hope to ensure that assets are managed systematically,” he added.