Transmenu powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club

©New Straits Times (Used by permission)

KUALA LUMPUR: The Auditor-General's Department has unearthed a spate of unethical practices by the contractor who built the Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (Smart).

Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang highlighted four cases where testing and accreditation certificates were issued for equipment before the actual testing was carried out. The report also indicated 10 other instances where equipment that had failed testing were also issued with certificates.

"This practice not only contravenes the contractual terms but is also unethical," Ambrin said.

The report also raised concerns over the contractor's delay in handing over the operations and maintenance manual and emergency response plan, which Ambrin said were vital references in emergency cases.

He said the joint-venture contractors, MMC Engineering Group Bhd and Gamuda Bhd, were also contractually bound to provide the documents to secure the certificate of fitness for the RM1.93 billion project.

Another issue raised was the delay in upgrading works of Sungai Kerayong, for which the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) approved an additional RM113.90 million.

Ambrin said upgrading works were 46.9 per cent behind schedule, despite the government's RM58.01 million payment to the contractor, Kumpulan Sakata Sdn Bhd.

The delay has forced the DID to use a temporary pump at Sungai Kerayong's outfall to overcome the overflow at the Taman Desa storage pond, which holds excess water channelled from Sungai Klang.

Ambrin said the Sungai Kerayong upgrade, handled by Kumpulan Sakata, should have been done in tandem with the development of the Smart tunnel to ensure it could operate at optimum capacity.

The government was also urged to gazette the Kampung Berembang holding pond and Taman Desa storage pond as flood mitigation reserves to ensure the areas were not used for development that could affect the tunnel's operations.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas, in his reply to the points raised in the report, said testing and accreditation was completed and endorsed by consultants on Sept 19 last year.

He said the certification was issued by the consultants based on the agreement between the contractor and the consultant and differs from the terms and requirements under the contract cum concession agreement.

On the operations and maintenance manual, he said the contractor has appointed a consultant to prepare and complete a designer's operation and maintenance manual and had promised to submit the document by Nov 11.

Douglas also justified the installation of the temporary pump, which he said was necessary to control water levels at the Taman Desa storage pond until upgrading work on the Sungai Kerayong was completed by next year.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed