Ministry urged to take stern action on contractors
THE Transport Ministry has been urged to consider taking stern action against the contractors appointed for the construction of the railway line connecting Subang Jaya to the Subang Skypark Terminal.
The recommendation was made in the report.
The report said stern action such as imposing liquidated and ascertained damages on the contractors should be considered following their unsatisfactory performance.
“Among the issues is failure of the contractors to complete the project on time, incomplete construction works and noncompliance work,” according to the report.
It was mentioned that the 8.157km railway project, which commenced construction on Feb 21, 2013, was supposed to be completed by Feb 20, 2016, with the overall project cost of RM521.06 million.
However, after three extensions were approved with the last ending on June 14 this year, the project is yet to be completed.
In addition, the value management conducted did not achieve the full objective when cable shifting work and the cost of appointing an Independent Checking Consultant (ICC) were not refined, which eventually led to an increase in costs by RM21.07 million.
The report also found that the disbursement of RM142.75 million to Perbadanan Aset Keretapi (PAK) in January 2012 has yet to be utilised.
“Therefore, the ministry recommends collecting the said amount inclusive of interest from PAK.”
The audit also recommended the ministry raise the level of scrutiny on the contractor’s quality of work, who often had to demolish completed works and redo them due to errors.