By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, Jan 8: The RM410 million Petra Jaya Hospital, which had been classified as a “sick project”, is now expected to be operational in 2025, after the rescue contractor gave assurance that the hospital would be completed by November next year.
Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni stated this today at a press conference following his visit to the Petra Jaya Hospital site here.
“The hospital project is currently 51 per cent complete, and the rescue contractor has achieved actual physical progress completion of 25.78 per cent as of Dec 30.
“The project is significantly ahead of schedule, having been completed nearly a month ahead of schedule, which is a positive development,” he said.
He disclosed Public Works Department (JKR) is closely monitoring the project to ensure that it is not further delayed, with completion scheduled for Nov 25, 2024.
Lukanisman added that the project is already 30 days or 1.63 per cent ahead of schedule after the rescue contractor took over at the end of 2021.
“We are confident that the project will be completed on Nov 25, 2024, in the hope that there will be no more unforeseen events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the unexpected movement control order (MCO) within these two years,” he explained.
Lukanisman also revealed that, with the project currently ahead of schedule, the rescue contractor has given assurance that equipment ordered would arrive soon and that installation would be more vigorous, thus speeding up the project in the next few months.
“Once the physical building has been completed and all of the equipment has been installed, we expect the operation of this hospital to be accelerated within a month after it is handed over to the Ministry of Health (MoH) Malaysia, which means that people of Sarawak will be able to enjoy its facilities in 2025,” he mentioned.
The Petra Jaya Hospital, which began construction in May 2013, was supposed to be completed in November 2016.
After previous contractors failed to complete the project on time, the hospital experienced several delays and was deemed a “sick project”.
The rescue contractor was appointed last year. — DayakDaily
