MIRI – Pakatan Harapan (PH) did not cancel vital projects in Sarawak when it was in federal power between 2018 and last year, but had terminated contractors linked to ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) component parties that allegedly earned highly marked-up profits.
Sarawak PH deputy chairman Dr Michael Teo Yu Keng told The Vibes today that GPS leaders are lying to the people, when it said PH had caused many key projects in the state to be cancelled.
“GPS leaders are going around telling voters in Sarawak that we in PH cancelled many key projects in this state when PH took over the federal government.
“These GPS politicians said they started many big, important projects like the construction of bridges, highways, hospitals, and other infrastructure projects in Sarawak, but that PH had cancelled these projects when we took over the federal government.
“These GPS politicians are not telling the truth to the rakyat of Sarawak. In fact, they are telling lies.
“What really happened was that when PH took over Putrajaya, we started to review all the terms and conditions of mega projects throughout the country, including in Sarawak.”
Dr Teo said PH found that many multimillion ringgit Sarawak projects were in the hands of contractors linked to certain GPS parties.
“The costs of these projects were very high, and we found they were marked up so that these GPS cronies would benefit. We then took steps to terminate the contracts of these crony contractors, but we did not cancel these projects.
“We were in the process of getting tenders to hire new contractors to continue these Sarawak projects but sadly, the political crisis caused the collapse of PH in Putrajaya.”
He alleged that quite a few contractors had acquired a big sum of payment from GPS, but later abandoned their projects.
“One of the abandoned hospital projects saw the main contractor already paid up to RM186 million. After getting the money, the contractor did a lousy job and then not long after, abandoned the project totally.
“GPS leaders must explain (all this) to the voters, not tell half-truths or lies.”
He said it was PH that had tried to clean up the way contracts were awarded in Sarawak.
“PH wants to see transparency in the awarding of government contracts for big projects as they involve taxpayers’ money.
“Polling day is only less than a week away, so there will be those who will tell more lies and half-truths against PH.”
Yesterday, GPS via the Sarawak Public Communications Unit said in a statement that it had to intervene in order to rescue what PH had cancelled.
The party cited an example, where PH had cancelled a key bridge project across Sg Igan in central Sarawak.
“It was the GPS government that rescued the project costing RM285 million,” the statement said.
The Public Communications Unit, which is the official mouthpiece of the GPS government, also provided Works Ministry data on the project.
The project has now been taken over by the state government, and will be completed in 2024.
As the election draws near, GPS and PH have been engaging in a war of words, with both accusing each other of failing the people of Sarawak.
Sarawak heads to the polls on December 18, with early voting on December 14. – The Vibes, December 12, 2021
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