We did what we could for laid-off staff, says LBU

KUCHING: The management of Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn Bhd (LBU) has done whatever it could do to give its laid-off staff the best compensation benefits, said the company.

LBU in a statement yesterday informed that an employee assistance programme to prepare the affected staff was conducted by the Human Resources Department, which included a series of knowledge-sharing and upskilling programmes on resume writing, interview skills, computer skills, and on starting one’s own business.

To help staff to secure employment, it said the HR Department had also crossreferred job opportunities available in the market and gave time off to staff to a end interviews.

“As we clock out 5.30pm sharp today (yesterday), we should be grateful for the great years of employment with LBU.

“Although we can’t get to build the Pan Borneo Highway Sarawak to the end, we however should hold our heads high for a job well done, from the beginning till now where we have seen much progress happening across all the remaining 10 works packages.

“We completed the Telok Melano to Sematan stretch in early January last year, followed by Jalan Nyabau to Jalan Bakun or Kick Off Project last year.

“It is definitely a very difficult decision to make by LBU Management to lay off the staff due to the decision of the federal government to do away with the project delivery partner (PDP) model,” the statement said.

More than 500 employees of LBU have been retrenched, with yesterday being their last day with the company.

Only a few in the finance and information technology (IT) departments would serve until May to do tidying works, according to an internal source.

“No one is spared. The federal government has terminated the LBU as the PDP tomorrow (Feb 19), so everyone in LBU gets kicked out,” the source had told The Borneo Post on Tuesday.