KUCHING, June 9: The Works Ministry and Finance Ministry should take into consideration the performance of the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) for the Pan Borneo Highway project as well as the progress of the project to date.
Petra Jaya MP Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said there was no reason for the federal government to cancel the PDP agreements for the Pan Borneo Highway project as the PDP’s performance has been very good and in fact the project was ahead of schedule.
Apart from that, he added that the progress of the Pan Borneo Highway project for Sarawak is more than 50 per cent currently and cancelling the PDP agreements would incur more cost and time.
“The agreements have been signed between the (previous) federal government and the PDP. Then the PDP also signed agreements with the consultants and contractors. So these are the things that need to be taken into consideration by Works Minister Baru Bian and also Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng,” Fadillah told reporters during his Hari Raya Aidilfitri Open House here this morning.
The PDP for the Sarawak side of the Pan Borneo Highway is Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn Bhd (LBU).
Baru in a statement yesterday revealed that the new PDP model for Sarawak would be announced soon. Although it is not known yet if LBU’s contract would be terminated, Fadillah said whatever decisions the federal government would take, there would be implications in terms of cost and time.
“If they want to terminate (the contract) it has to be done gracefully, meaning it has to be on mutual terms so that you can discuss in terms of compensation and then there will be a proper handing over to whoever they want to appoint later on to take the role of the PDP,” said Fadillah.
He also defended LBU’s performance, saying that during the last few months of his tenure as the Works Minister, construction on the Sarawak side of the Pan Borneo Highway project was ahead of time.
Earlier, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said Putrajaya had contacted the state government on the matter.
“This is a federal project. They decide, but it must be looked at from different angles because the progress of the project is almost at 70 per cent or so.
“Let them decide if they want to continue with the previous PDP or with a new one,” he said. — DayakDaily
