By Brad Rantayy
MIRI, April 9: SUPP supports the call from the Limbang District Contractors Association urging the federal government to expedite all overdue payment claims of Class E and F contractors.
Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) secretary-general Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew opined that if all the necessary documentation for the payment claims are prepared and submitted, the government should immediately release the payment to the contractors.
“This will greatly help to ease the burden in their cash flow during the ongoing non-productive MCO (movement control order) period to sustain the business and to continue paying salary to their employees,” he asserted in a statement today.
“Therefore, we hope the new federal government will take heed of this and improve from the previous government to expedite all overdue payment claims for the work done in the previous years 2018 and 2019, so at least the contractors can have positive cash flow.”
He added, the same can be said for other SMEs in the construction industry including architecture, engineering and surveying.
“Many of them are depending on the federal government to expedite the payment of all outstanding fees so they can continue to pay full salaries to employees including rental, creditors and overheads.”
Due to the halt in the construction industry because of the MCO, most if not all construction projects will experience delays, he added.
This work flow disruption will further impact the company’s capacity and future cash flow due to delays in fee claims in the next six months to a year.
“Therefore, we think it would be a good sound practice to set a maximum period of 30 days upon the submission of work done for processing and settlement of any future payment claims including professional fees for all federal government and state government projects so contractors and consultants do not have to wait too long for their payment and experience disruption to their cash flow,” he pointed out.
“It is important that we minimise such disruptions to allow business to bounce back as quickly as possible.” — DayakDaily
