Envoy backs Belt-Road Centre in
The Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to China, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has backed a proposal to set up a BeltRoad Centre in Sabah to facilitate business, investment and trade between China and Sabah.
DESPITE the setbacks brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Works Ministry has risen above the challenges and managed to achieve a 99 per cent Key Performance Index (KPI) from projects and programmes that were implemented in the past one year.
Senior Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said the pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges not only to his ministry but also the whole country.
“We are thankful that at the ministry level, we have achieved a KPI of 99 per cent in line with what has been set and recommended by the government.
“This achievement is in line with the Ministry of Works’ vision, mission and main motto to be a leader in infrastructure development and the construction industry; to strengthen infrastructure development and comprehensive asset management as well as to expand the digitisation of the construction industry for the well-being of the people,” he told a press conference to mark the Ministry of Works’ one-year achievement at Kompleks Kerja Raya in Kuala Lumpur recently.
In view of this, he said it was crucial for the ministry to ensure that infrastructure development and government development be implemented to provide quality infrastructure facilities that will benefit the local community.
“This includes ensuring that the condition of the roads we build are safe for travel to move our country’s economy,” he added.
111 projects completed in 2020
Fadillah pointed out that in 2020, a total of 131 projects were implemented by the Ministry of Works of which 111 have been completed with a total cost of RM3.95 billion.
“The projects that have been implemented are the Sabah and Sarawak Pan Borneo Highway, the Central Spine Road (CSR) project involving the entire state of Pahang from Bentong up to the border of Kelantan, and the Kota Bharu Highway Project to Kuala Krai, Kelantan (KBKK),” he said.
“There are also other mega projects such as the Federal Route 5 Upgrading Project, the construction of the Putra Tanjung Lumpur Bridge, Pahang and so on.
“Some of these projects have been fully completed while some are still under construction or in process of receiving tenders,” he said.
Besides these projects, he said the ministry had also implemented the treatment for blackspot areas or accident-prone areas such as the Federal Highway, federal roads and highways through the country that have been identified.
According to him, the Ministry of Works under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, has been allocated two provisions under the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package 2020 (Prihatin) namely under the First and Second Economic Stimulus Package.
“Under the First Economic Stimulus Package, the ministry received around RM300 million for road maintenance projects; whereas an allocation of RM150 million under the Second Economic Stimulus Package will not only go towards road maintenance but also the maintenance of government buildings and slopes.
“With these allocations, it has helped many G1 to G4 contractors as the allocations have given concession companies and small companies the opportunity to implement government projects.
“This means that projects such as road maintenance, repair works and so on will reach the grassroots level and at the same time, it gives a big impact to contractors involved and this can move the economy at district levels,” said Fadillah.
He also noted that there were some projects that could not be completed last year and could only be completed this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“For instance, when Sabah was placed under the Movement Control Order (MCO), all construction activities and works could not be implemented.
“The supply of material, movement between districts or states cannot be carried out and these were some of the factors the projects concerned could not be implemented according to schedule.
“This is one of the challenges we faced last year and the reason why we could only achieve 99 per cent (KPI),” he said.
Fadillah explained that for projects that were disrupted due to the pandemic, the Works Ministry gave an extension period of 114 days for projects under the ministry that were delayed during the first phase of the MCO.
“The extension also involved projects under the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) that are being implemented because at that time, all construction or development activities cannot run during the MCO.
“The extra time, however, does not involve a new allocation of costs and the projects must be implemented according to the schedule that has been set after they re-operate,” he said, adding that the construction industry suffered an estimated loss of around RM11.6 billion in the first month of MCO in March last year.
To a question regarding the status of the Sabah Pan Borneo Highway project, Fadillah said the project was implemented a year after the implementation of the Pan Borneo Highway project in Sarawak.
“There was also the transition of power by the government that contributed to the delay of the project in Sabah.
“Nevertheless, the government will find a solution to speed up the construction process of the Pan Borneo Highway following the termination of the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) agreement by the previous government,” he said.
He said the project is currently being implemented conventionally by appointed contractors with the Public Works Department (JKR) from Sabah and Sarawak monitoring the situation to ensure that both projects are more efficiently carried out.
He also said that the Pan Borneo Highway project in Sabah has reached 45 per cent completion while in Sarawak it has progressed to 60 per cent completion.
“So far, both projects are expected to be completed by 2023, depending on the phases,” he added.
Ministry of Works’ digital innovations
To facilitate the submission of tenders or quotations, the Ministry of Works has made a transition to digital technology where contractors and industrial companies are now able to download their required documents online.
Fadillah said his ministry made several changes to facilitate matters for all parties to ensure the smooth running of projects.
“We learnt a lot during the Covid-19 pandemic last year and as such, we have moved towards digital tender at JKR level. There were certain places where the contractors were not allowed to travel across districts or states and therefore, they were unable to purchase or send the tender documents.
“We decided to take a digital tender initiative to enable the contractors to handle their matters online such as to download the required documents and send the documents physically or to use courier service,” he said.
RM7 million for screening of foreign workers
At the same event, Fadillah also announced an allocation of RM7 million to assist employers, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in expediting the Covid-19 screening of registered foreign workers in an effort to reduce transmission of the infectious virus at construction sites.
“We are aware that SMEs are burdened with the cost of the Covid-19 screening test and as such, this allocation will go towards the screening of foreign construction workers registered with the Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).
“This subsidy of RM50 per person, will be given on a one-off basis to Foreign Construction Personnel with a valid CIDB Construction Personnel Registration to undergo the screenings which will be managed by CIDB Holdings Sdn Bhd through its list of panel clinics,” he said.
He said the actual cost set is RM100 for registered foreign construction workers with RM50 to be borne by CIDB.
“For unregistered foreign construction workers, a full charge of RM100 will be imposed on them,” he added.
The CIDB incentive will be implemented via two methods namely screening at the construction site if there were more than 30 applications and drivethrough screening which uses the RTK Antigen swab test kit. The results of this screening test can be obtained within 30 minutes.
In addition to encouraging employers to send their employees for Covid-19 screening, the subsidy also aims to encourage more unregistered construction workers to come forward and register with CIDB.