KUCHING: Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers’ Association (Sheda) Kuching branch chairman Sim Kiang Chiok thinks small contractors working on Rural Transformation Programme (RTP) projects in Sarawak may be facing several challenges.
He said good and successful contractors in the state could possibly be experiencing a lack of working capital, technical and supervisory staff.
“When the government dismisses these contractors and reappoints other contractors, it will cost us more time and costs in implementing these small projects,” he said yesterday.
He was commenting on remarks by Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian that the state currently faced the challenges of having too few contractors to carry out state government projects.
The Sheda Kuching branch chairman pointed out that contractors needed to have certain qualities and experiences to perform well.
“The excuse that they have been awarded too low in the contract sum no longer holds true as the state government is practising open tenders and awarding to the contractors that have tendered near or about the approved budget rather than the lowest.
“This means that the reason of poor pricing for construction failure is not totally accurate. There could be other reasons such lack of skilled workers or good machine operators, poor organising or management skill, lack of construction materials or machineries,” he pointed out.
Sim added that poor weather could also be a factor, especially when the construction projects involved the elements, such as infrastructure to build drains or roads.
