PKR seeks clarity in awards of contracts for rundown schools
KUCHING: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) wants clarity and transparency in the award of the 13 packages of construction works for the first phase of the project to improve 51 dilapidated schools across Sarawak to 13 contractors at the cost of RM130.62 million.
State PKR vice chairman See Chee How said the party welcomed the announcement by Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof which included the disclosure that works on the 51 dilapidated schools would be completed within four months.
“However, how does this synchronise with Sarawak's effort to secure the RM1 billion allocation under Budget 2018 for the state government to better manage the rebuilding of dilapidated schools in Sarawak, and the 110 critically-dilapidated schools identified by the state Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Research to be rebuilt with the RM1 billion federal budgetary allocation for 2018?
“A coordinated and concerted effort between the federal and state governments is needed to focus on the need to rebuild and upgrade the 1,020 schools which are being classified as being in deplorable state, with 415 said to be critically dilapidated, as identified by the Sarawak state government,” he said in a press statement yesterday.
When announcing the implementation of phase 1 of school rebuilding and upgrading projects in Sarawak on Friday, Fadillah had also revealed that phase 1 would involve another 66 schools to be implemented by the Ministry of Education.
See said with the unilateral announcement of the federal works minister placing the rebuilding and upgrading work packages involving 117 schools in Sarawak under two federal ministries, it was clear that the plight of the Sarawak state government had been ignored.
"It contradicts the promises by the prime minister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) to respect the rights of Sarawakians and any hope that the BN's model of federal-state relation will allow Sarawak state administration to have a bigger say in determining her future is illusory and deceptive."
He said with the control and dictate of the federal government in the management of the budgetary allocation for the rebuilding and upgrading of deplorable infrastructural facilities in the schools in Sarawak, it is questionable how much of the RM1 billion allocation will be actually disbursed in the projects implemented in Sarawak.
“With the incorporation of industrialised building systems (IBS) in the work packages, it is to be expected that not only is the time for completion of the construction works is shortened, it should save costs as well. However, the cost of RM130.62 million for the specified scope of works as revealed by the Works Minister is ridiculously high.”