KUCHING, Nov 15: The Petra Jaya Hospital and Sri Aman Hospital projects are both behind schedule and cannot be completed on time.
Minister of Local Government and Housing Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian, whose ministry is monitoring these two federal projects under the supervision of Public Works Department (JKR), said the projects suffered a huge delay.
“As at Oct 22, 2017, the actual progress for Petra Jaya Hospital is 27.68 per cent, compared with the scheduled progress of 100 per cent,” he said in his ministry’s winding up speech in the State Legislative Assembly today.
He said the initial completion date for the RM500 million Petra Jaya Hospital was November 2016.
The contractor was granted an Extension of Time (EOT) and the completion date was therefore shifted to June 9, 2017. However, the project suffered another huge delay.
Dr Sim said JKR Malaysia is currently closely monitoring the project in order to ensure that this much needed hospital is completed for the benefit of the people of Sarawak as soon as possible.
For Sri Aman Hospital, the actual physical progress as at Oct 28, 2017 was 23.4 per cent compared with the scheduled progress of 41 per cent, he said.
With the approval of another EOT by JKR Malaysia, the new date of completion for Sri Aman Hospital is now shifted to Aug 3, 2019.
The Sri Aman Hospital, a project announced back in 2011, was initially scheduled for completion in October 2016. The RM150 million 108-bed hospital was relaunched in 2015 and its new completion date was initially Oct 2018, and now has been pushed back to August 2019.
The project was in response to the request from the Sri Aman people to replace the present hospital, which had been in use since 1959 and could no longer handle present demand.
During a surprise visit to the construction site in July this year, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was dismayed at the project that was behind schedule by 218 days at the time. He had reportedly said that no more extension would be given to the contractor.
Meanwhile, Dr Sim reported that Sarawak Health Department has a total of 25,233 approved posts of which 96 per cent has been filled. These consist of 308 specialists, 2,764 medical officers, 328 dental officers, 625 pharmacists and 8,608 nurses. The remainder are support personnel for the medical services.
To-date, the State Health Department has received RM1.95 billion under the operating expenditure compared to RM2.5 billion in 2016, a decrease of RM550 million. Of the allocation received, RM1.174 billion or 60 per cent is for emolument alone while the remaining RM774 million or 40 per cent is for drugs, vaccines, reagents, consumables, maintenance and administrative costs. — Dayak Daily
