Procedures have to be followed before repairs can start — Dr Yii

KUCHING: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii explained that one of the mechanisms agreed between the federal and state governments on repairing dilapidated schools is to offer open tender for the works.

“There were four main mechanisms that was agreed between the Federal and State Government and one of the important mechanisms is that the repair works of the dilapidated schools in Sarawak should be offered by open tender, to ensure transparency and fair value based on the current federal government financial arrangements,” he explained in a statement Monday.

As such, he regrets the politicising of the ilapidated schools issue by the Chief Minister Abang Johari Tun Openg when he ignorantly questioned the alleged delay in their repairs.

Yii said the chief minister is well aware of the agreed terms and mechanism including the need for open tender and proper monitoring of the said implementation.

He added that based on public statements, the State Government made the claims that the initial agreed RM350 million was paid around Aug 4 this year, which was about three weeks ago.

He lamented that somehow the chief minister and the State Government expect all proper procedures including proper open tendering process, transparent selection process among others to be done within these three weeks.

“Under the new Government, there are proper procedures that has to be followed and adhered to before any contract is being awarded. This is the same whatever the amount, including the use of my own constituency funds,” he said.

Yii pointed out that the issue of dilapidated schools is a chronic and inherited problem from the previous federal government.

“So attempts to shift blame to the new government by the present State leaders in my view is hypocritical as they were part of the administration who allowed this rot to happen.

“They cannot try to push it to say that education is a Federal thing, don’t tell me the State Leaders did not realise the issue that is happening in their own backyard all these years and somehow only got vocal in the past year,” he said.

Yii further pointed out that even in the first phase allocation by the previous government in 2017/2018 to repair these schools, it was reported that 77.9 per cent of those projects using the Industrial Building System (IBS) were delayed.

He stressed that it is not just about ‘allocations’, but whether it has been fully and properly utilised for its intended purpose.

“If there are no steps or conditions (open tender, proper monitoring, so on) in place to make sure wastage or corruption do not happen, no matter how much money is allocated, it will still never be enough.

“I understand the importance and also the need to expedite this important issue as I myself have continuously debated on this issue in parliament and urged all the relevant parties including the Federal Government and State Government to finalise the necessary arrangements,” he said.

Yii assured that he will follow up with the relevant department including the Ministry of Education on the status of the project.