The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has taken the Public Works Department (JKR) to task over a one-year delay in building the Sentul district police headquarters (IPD). JKR, the body overseeing the project, was also called out for exceeding the budget allocation for the building of the police station. “Today we called the Home Ministry and JKR to explain the situation with the Sentul police station (IPD) project. “As we want to be fair to all parties, the PAC has also heard the views of contractors. “The main issue is regarding weaknesses in the design of the police station which has caused delays in the construction of the building itself,” said PAC Chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan (pic) Tuesday. Nur Jazlan explained that the weaknesses in design had also caused additional expenditure for repairs and improvements. This resulted in the building exceeding its original budget, which originally had a RM78mil ceiling price. All in all, the project is now estimated to cost RM83.6mil, said Nur Jazlan. The station was slated for completion in Feb 2012 but was only completed in May 2013. “In this case, JKR is the supervising agency. Therefore, they are responsible for the delays. “Even more glaring is that JKR did not conduct sufficient checks on the consultant,” he said at a press conference after chairing a PAC meeting. “JKR has been lax in their monitoring, especially in monitoring the work conducted by the design consultants. “Prior to this, there was no check and balance. We propose that JKR establish an internal auditing body that audits design proposed by consultants,” he said. The project was financed by the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) through a private funding initiative (PFI). SAFF Builders Sdn Bhd, were awarded the contract through direct negotiations. JKR has assured the PAC that improvements will be undertaken on their part.
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 14:06:38 +0000
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