KUCHING, May 21: Democratic Action Party (DAP) assemblyman for Padungan Wong King Wei is urging the state government to not award the next long term road maintenance concession tender deal to Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS).
He said awarding such concessions should be done through an open tender to be fair to other Sarawakian contractors and companies, and not monopolised by a single company for a long period of time.
“CMS has been given a 15-year road maintenance concession for some 4,973km of roads with the cost of RM2,298.68 per kilometer per month. This contract is due soon and CMS is trying to secure another one for the next 15 years to maintain some 6,000km of roads in Sarawak.
“The new directive of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government dictates that all projects are to be offered in open tenders. Therefore I urge the state government to follow the directive of the federal government to award contracts transparently,” said Wong in a press conference at DAP headquarters here this morning.
He proposed that each concession should not be given for too long of a period like 15 years, and instead to be reduced to five years.
This, Wong explained, would make it more competitive and easier to monitor the performance of the contractors and companies.
“Also, instead of awarding one big project to CMS who would then divide it into several packages, the contracts should be awarded in open tenders to several contractors and companies.
“This would encourage healthy competition and at the same time reduce the expenditure of the state government,” he said. — DayakDaily
