LOSS OF EMPLOYMENT
KUCHING: The federal Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Public Works Department (JKR) seem nonchalant about the loss of employment among the people, said Santubong MP Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
“Even our local Pakatan Harapan (PH) MPs do not seem to think the livelihood of these employees and their families as very important,” he lamented, referring to the over 500 employees being dismissed by Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn Bhd (LBU) as its function as the project delivery partner (PDP) ends today.
“Interestingly, MOF sees it right for Penang to implement their projects to PDP,” he said.
He said that when he had debated in the last parliamentary session, he had touched on the loss of the 500 workers as an immediate effect of PDP termination.
However, he felt that the PH MPs of Sarawak had thought little of this – “In fact, (they) belittled my efforts of talking on behalf of the PDP company.”
He continued to explain his concerns on the matter.
“The cost of the Pan Borneo Highway might explode because when the government is taking over the project, it will involve the deployment of JKR staff, engineers, and technicians,” Wan Junaidi said.
Yet, he said the government kept mum on the cost of these engineers’ and technicians’ man-hours.
“If Sarawak JKR is involved, this might affect its attention to a lot of the state’s projects which are under the present Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) administration,” he said.
Another concern of his was the delay in delivering the project to the people, which might also involve cost and incidental losses in use and facilities.
“There is the loss of employment for the 500 engineers, experts, and technicians directly employed by the PDP company and the loss of contracts by the local contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers,” he said.
Wan Junaidi said he was also concerned with the losses of technology transfer and management skills to the locals in highway construction and management.
“If JKR needs to hire directly, there will be bureaucratic hurdles and obstructions to pass before the Public Service Department (JPA), federal or state, to get clearance.
“Similarly, if JKR wants to organise their own procurement, there will be the Ministry of Works and MOF to be dealt with,” he said, adding that he was referring to both federal and state processes and procedures.
