Stop-work order delays Bukit Kukus paired road project

GEORGE TOWN: The RM545mil Bukit Kukus paired road project may only be completed late 2020 or early 2021 as it faces uncertainty over a stop-work order.

That order is still in effect since the Oct 19 landslide that saw 12 containers on a slope crashing down and killing nine foreign workers and injuring four people.

The Penang Island City Council (MBPP) had paid RM169mil to con- tractor Yuta Maju Sdn Bhd for 70% of the council’s portion of the completed work that amounted to RM275.6mil.

State Works Committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari said the remaining 30% would be delayed as it was uncertain when the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) would lift the stop-work order.

“The earlier target was for the first quarter of 2020, then we revised the completion date to later that year due to the stop-work order.

“But now, it could be even longer,” he said.

Zairil said the stop-work order only affected the council’s portion of the project.

A spokesman for the contractor agreed that 30% of the construction work could take longer.

“We are looking at a later date in 2020 to complete our work,” he said.

State DOSH director Jaafar Leman declined to give a date on when the order would be lifted.

“We are doing forensic tests on the hillslopes and haven’t given approval to other agencies to do mitigation works just yet,” he said.

The stop-work order, said Jaafar, would only be lifted when the department was fully satisfied with the safety measures.

The project had hit a snag when Yuta Maju faced land acquisition issues and realignment of cables.

Geo Valley Sdn Bhd, the other contractor that had completed 18% of the RM120mil stretch, faced legal issues when affected residents took up the matter with the Appeals Board. The matter is still pending.

PLB Land Sdn Bhd, which has completed 36% of the RM150mil stretch of the paired road project, had to remove big rocks and boulders, and the portion is scheduled to be completed in mid-2020.

Fourteen concrete beams, measuring 25m long each, fell onto a slope in Jalan Tun Sardon with 11 breaking apart on a stretch of the project on Oct 11.

DOSH issued a stop-work order on Oct 13, which the contractor only adhered to four days later, citing misunderstanding with DOSH.