The Public Works Department (PWD) has issued another written warning to main contractor Sunshine Fleet Sdn Bhd for ‘lagging behind schedule’ in building the Shah Alam Hospital.

NONE Malaysiakini has obtained a copy of the PWD letter to Sunshine Fleet, a company linked to the Selangor royal family. This follows a letter on July 15, pointing out that there was a “serious delay” in the project.

Dated July 26, the second letter is headed Surat amaran bagi kemungkiran kontraktor (Letter of warning on default by contractor).

The PWD described the situation at the construction site as “critical” and “serious” in its latest letter signed by health-works division deputy director Mohamed Amin Kasim.

The main point of contention is that the project was only 26.1 percent completed when the level should have been 29.7% at the time of the letter was issued.

“(In addition) work activities have stopped and the number of workers has dropped drastically (compared  to) previous months. On July 26, only 41 workers were on site  when (the number) should have been around 700 workers,” the PWD said.

azlan The PWD urged Sunshine Fleet to be more diligent and to proceed with the work to get back on schedule.

The department also demanded that the firm accounts for the ‘delay’ and states what measures are being taken to address this.

“Should you fail to comply, this office will take appropriate action as per the terms of contract,” the PWD warned.

Based on the standard terms of contract signed with the PWD, this could lead to the contractor being taken off the project and the project being re-tendered to interested bidders.

‘Financial problems’

The RM482 million project has been haunted by wrangling, following a tiff between Sunshine Fleet and the initial sub-contractor Isyoda (M) Sdn Bhd over ‘money matters’.

This led to the project being sub-contracted to GM Healtchcare Sdn Bhd, which also ran into problems over financial matters with the main contractor.

Both parties are involved in lawsuits , which have led to the work coming to a near standstill .

In a bizarre twist, Sunshine Fleet had even asked the PWD to stop payments for work already done, and obtained an injunction from the court to stop payment to all parties concerned.

On June 23, however, Works Minister Shaziman Abu Mansor had given a thumbs-up to the project.

NONE He said that, since the project appears to be proceeding mostly on schedule, there has been no apparent breach of contract or specifications. As such, he said the government has no issues with the project.

Last December, Malaysiakini had exposed the problems plaguing the project as well alleged  irregularities in the award of the directly negotiated project, which had been  announced as an open tender.

Based on records at the Companies Commission of Malaysia, Sunshine Fleet is owned by the Selangor sultan's sister Tengku Putri Arafiah ibni Sultan Abd Aziz Shah (70 percent), her son Putera Azamuddin Shah bin Abdul Aziz (10 percent), and her uncle Tengku Abdul Samad Shah ibni Sultan Salahuddin Abd Aziz Shah (20 percent).