KOTA KINABALU – Failure to comply with conditions set by the Public Private Partnership Unit (Ukas) of the Prime Minister's Department has meant that funds already approved for the suspended Kota Kinabalu Skybridge project have been put on hold.
Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin said Ukas had previously approved RM63 million to Sunsea Development to build the skybridge here.
Up until now, the full amount has not been channelled for the project, which is now 92% complete.
The Sabah DAP secretary said this was the reply that he received on November 2 to a question on the matter from the minister in the Prime Minister's Department in Parliament’s special chambers.
The 950-metre long skybridge in the heart of the state capital is meant to be a walkway connecting the Oceanus Waterfront mall, Warisan Square, Api Api Commercial Centre, Sabah Centre Point mall and Asia City.
Chan said that in September last year, Kota Kinabalu Mayor Datuk Nordin Siman had met then state ministers Datuk Frankie Poon and Phoong Jin Zhe in Putrajaya, with then finance minister Lim Guan Eng, to try to resolve the suspended skybridge issue.
He said the present Sabah government should no longer delay the project and take up the offer by the federal government, as initiated by Lim in 2019, to complete the project and split the cost 50:50.
The contract to build the skybridge was between landowner Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) and Sunsea Development. Subsequently, Sunsea Development appointed Petrofiq Sdn Bhd as a subcontractor to carry out construction work.
The initial commencement date was set for April 2017, meaning that the project should have been completed by the end of September that same year.
Chan said that according to the reply, Petrofiq refused to complete the construction as it had not received full payment from Sunsea Development. – The Vibes, November 27, 2020
