Melaka education department gets RM15.75mil to upgrade schools

MELAKA: The Melaka State Education Department has received an allocation of RM15.7 million from the Education Ministry to upgrade and carry out minor maintenance works for the toilets at 225 primary and secondary schools in the state.

Its director, Mohd Ghazali Ahmad, said the department had upgraded the toilets at 215 schools within eight weeks, from Aug 18 to Oct 12.

"Only 10 are still at the final stage for (upgrading) works with an approved value of RM70,000.

"We believe the project can be completed soon with a six-month defects liability period after the completion date,” he told Bernama.

He said the department has not received any complaints from the schools.

He said out of the total allocation, RM6.16 million had been channelled to implement upgrading works at 88 schools in central Melaka, and RM9.59 million has been distributed to the state Implementation Coordination Unit and the District And Land Offices in Jasin and Alor Gajah, to cater to 137 schools in the two districts.

Mohd Ghazali said among the scope of work approved by the Education Ministry are renovations and upgrading of toilets, renovations and upgrading of sewerage system, rewiring work and replacement of electrical equipment, procurement of toilet equipment and accessories besides other maintenance activities.

On the selection of contractors, he said, it was done in line with the approval from the Finance Ministry, that is, for projects under the Melaka State Education Department, the contractors were chosen by the tender process, while the selection of contractors for projects under the State Development Office and Jasin and Alor Gajah District And Land Offices were made through direct appointment.

He said that the projects are jointly monitored by the Melaka State Education Department, the State Development Office, and Jasin and Alor Gajah District And Land Offices, adding that projects under relevant agencies are managed by assistant engineers appointed by the department heads, including himself.- Bernama