Rain, heavy vehicles key causes behind poor roads
Keen eye: Ahmad Maslan (centre) looking at plans for the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan Bachok campus. — Bernama
BACHOK: Rain and overloaded heavy vehicles were the two main causes behind damaged roads in the country, says the Works Ministry.
Its deputy minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said RM4bil was required to repair damaged roads in the country, but the ministry has received just under RM2bil due to limitations faced by the government.
'My ministry always hopes that we will get more allocations each year to repair damaged roads as there are those that are 'old' and require re-tarring,' he told reporters after officiating the Bachok Umno division delegates' meeting yesterday, Bernama reported.
He revealed that the ministry had previously suggested that any collection made by the Road Transport Department, including road tax and speeding summonses, be handed to the ministry to use for road repairs but the suggestion never received any feedback.
On another matter, he said the construction of the Entrepreneurship Faculty Complex at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan Bachok campus had fallen behind schedule and had been granted four extensions of time (EOT).
He said the fourth EOT would be the final one, adding that the ministry expected the project to be fully completed by October.
'I have informed the contractor and JKR (Public Works Department) that we don't favour EOTs as we prefer AOTs (Ahead of Time). The project is currently 68.9% complete, which means there's about 30% left to be done over the next three months.
'I hope they will implement two work shifts, day and night shifts, with each shift totalling 16 hours by two separate teams to complete on time,' he said.
He cited the construction of the Malaysian Armed Forces staff housing in Sabah, which was carried out in three shifts, stressing that the contractor of this project should implement a three-shift system if they have similar capabilities.
Ahmad said delays in the project would disadvantage three parties: the students for whom the complex is being built, the government and the contractors themselves.
'The contractor said the monthly cost is RM50,000. They've already fallen behind by several months, so imagine RM50,000 multiplied by those months; that's the financial loss the contractor has to bear,' he added.
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