By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, Nov 27: Contractors working on Sarawak government projects are facing long delays in receiving payments, with some waiting six months to a year, Padungan assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen told the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUS) today.
He said he had received numerous complaints from contractors about slow payments, warning that delays inevitably affect construction progress.
“By delaying the payments of their claims, the government will invariably delay the construction work and the progress of the contractor’s work.
“There is a Chinese saying, ‘you yao ma er pao, you yao ma er bu chi cao’ — you cannot expect a horse to run without feeding it,” he said while debating the Sarawak Budget 2026.
He gave a specific example involving a contractor for the Jalan Baru Matang Phase 2 project, where the contractor had to wait two years for a deposit of less than RM50,000 required to start arbitration proceedings—forcing them to pay the deposit upfront to the Public Works Department (JKR).
“Two years for less than RM50,000 — how can that be? Is there some liquidity problem on the part of the Sarawak government that even for a matter going to arbitration, the government still cannot provide the funds?
“Therefore, I urge the Sarawak government to look into the delayed payment issue for contractors and to speed up the payment of their progressive claims on government projects,” Chong asserted. – DayakDaily
