KUCHING: Jabatan Kerja Raya Sarawak (JKR Sarawak) and CMS Roads Sdn Bhd (CMS Roads)’s co-organised seminar and workshop titled ‘Management & Maintenance of Road Assets using Performance-based Contract’ (with the tagline ‘Building on the Past for Sarawak’s Future’) is underway at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching, marking an important milestone towards achieving the highest performance standard for the management and maintenance of State roads.
The seminar and workshop offer an open and collaborative platform to share, discuss and determine firm strategies to enhance the State’s road assets management and maintenance approach.
This is very timely with the rapid-changing needs of a rapidly developing State.
With the latest global approaches to road assets management and maintenance being considered in the local context, the seminar and workshop have been organised in collaboration with The International Roads Federation, with the event officiated by Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr. James Jemut anak Masing, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Development and Transportation, comprising presentations and roundtable discussions with some of the State’s and international community’s most distinguished and influential industry experts in road assets management and maintenance.
CMS Roads holds the only performance-based long-term road maintenance contract in Malaysia and this format is now attracting interest as an example to be migrated to for other Malaysian road concession renewals or even for government agencies who have not yet opted for maintenance to be privatised, placing greater weight on the seminar and workshop as a focus for national and even international attention.
Speaking about the contract to date, Dato Richard Curtis added: “CMS Roads has exceeded its contractual performance at every level, every year, as reflected in the Road Maintenance Index (RMI) and Contractual Assessment Rating, and we have introduced specialised equipment, such as road scanners, and an innovative maintenance management system, the CMS Road Engineering Asset Management System -CREAM- to ensure the expectations of all our stakeholders are not only met, but surpassed. Notwithstanding all this, CMS Roads acknowledges there is always room for improvement and is collaborating with JKR Sarawak to incorporate revised and improved standards and work scopes so as to ensure, going forward, that Sarawak has better roads for a better Sarawak.”
Ir. Haji Zuraimi bin Haji Sabki, the Director of Public Works Department added: “This seminar and workshop is indicative of JKR Sarawak’s continued commitment to deliver the very best in public services in terms of road assets management and maintenance. JKR has always been open in developing crucial and on-going relationships with industry leaders and research institutions to develop and maintain the State’s infrastructure in line with the rapidly changing needs of the State.”
