KUALA LUMPUR: Some 145 out of 712 water infrastructure development projects had been delayed beyond schedule, involving in a cost of RM6.15bil, the Auditor-General’s report 2/2024 has found from its audit on the national water management system.
The audit was conducted on the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry and Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry, management of water resources.
The delays ranged between 86 to 1,076 days.
“The Audit team found that there were delays in the implementation for 11 out of the 34 Sewerage Services Department water quality development projects namely two projects in Pahang, Perak and Penang respectively, one in Kedah and four in Sabah. The cost of projects experiencing delays beyond schedule was RM4.685bil,” said the report.
“The total cost for the 129 SPAN projects that were delayed was RM68.16mil,” she added.
As for treated water projects, four projects experienced delays of between 324 to 1076 days resulting in a cost of RM926.79mil.
There were two projects in Sabah and one in Johor and Kedah respectively.
In its response to the A-G, JPP said seven projects were delayed, two were on time, five were delayed beyond the schedule and one in Indera Mahkota Pahang had yet to be completed.
“One project in Papan, Kinta, Perak has yet to be completed, one project in Kota Setar, Kedah and two projects in Bayan Baru, Penang for sewerage and network are still beyond schedule. The project delays were due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) by the government, delays in pipe installation and the arrival of supplies of construction materials,” it said.
A total of 712 infrastructure projects under the 11MP and 12MP worth RM19.89bil were audited.
“A total of 145 projects (20.4%) were delayed beyond schedule with a cost of RM6.15bil,” the report said.
Other project delays found were a dam project under the Tawau Water Supply scheme Phase 3 worth RM470.39mil had been given an extension of time of 341 days.
The report also found that 623,466 septic tanks in the country have not been decontaminated from between 2021 and 2023.
