Key man: Uggah (second from left) presenting a certificate to state Public Works Department director Datuk Richard Tajan at the gathering.
KUCHING: Sarawak’s Infrastructure and Port Development Ministry is targeting zero sick projects in 2024 after a significant reduction this year, says its minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah.
He said the number of sick projects fell from 96 in January last year to 17 at present.
To deal with the issue, he said the ministry was implementing a “one-month rule” requiring contractors to begin work at the site within a month of the project handover.
“Upon failure to comply, we will take action, including contract termination,” he said at the ministry’s appreciation and pre-Christmas gathering here on Thursday night.
Uggah, who is Deputy Premier, said the ministry was also working towards the tabling of the Single Port Authority Bill at the Sarawak legislative assembly sitting next May.
“We have to prepare the mechanism and amalgamation of all five port authorities – Miri, Samalaju, Rajang, Tanjung Manis and Kuching.
“From there, we have to enhance our monitoring and implementation system,” he said.
On this year’s achievements, Uggah said the state Public Works Department’s workforce capacity had been upgraded with 414 new posts.
“This will allow the divisional offices to cope with the increasing workload more efficiently and provide better service delivery,” he said.
In addition, he said the ministry had set up a rural infrastructure maintenance unit in the Baram area as a pilot project.
“If it proves to be successful, we will expand this to other areas in Sarawak. This unit is critical for us to provide services to the people,” he said.
Another notable achievement was the return of Bintulu Port from the Federal Government to the state, Uggah said.
He said negotiations on the terms for the Bintulu Port handover were targeted to be settled by July next year.
