The Public Works Department has released a statement refuting allegations of improprieties in the Shah Alam hospital project.

NONE After a two-month silence, the Public Works Department (PWD) has come out fighting, adamant in its stand that there are no irregularities in the Shah Alam general hospital project.

This was the gist of the email sent in response to Malaysiakini 's inquiries about the alleged public funds 'sinkhole'.

The email comes after initial attempts to contact PWD secretary-general Judin Abdul Karim - who signed the letter awarding the contract - was deflected to a slew of personal aides and press officers.

In December last year, Malaysiakini reported source-based claims that the contract was awarded under debatable circumstances and at an inflated price of about RM500 million to Sunshine Fleet Sdn Bhd, a company owned by a member of the Selangor royalty.

The allegations have raised concerns over the burgeoning corruption and waste of public funds in federal government projects.

DAP national publicity director Tony Pua, who is also Petaling Jaya Utara MP, regarded the matter serious enough to be probed by the Public Accounts Committee.

Direct negotiations

The reply, signed by PWD deputy director general Muhammad Husin, made it clear that the contract for the works in order to design, equip, commission and maintain the Shah Alam hospital was done by "direct negotiations".

NONE PWD's reply also stated that the Treasury had decided to allow the department to directly negotiate with the contractor for the project, because of failure to finalise the contract price in an earlier submission.

However, it was not made clear why the project, which was announced as an open tender in 2007 by former Selangor health, tourism and consumer affairs executive councillor Dr Lim Thuang Seng, was instead awarded in direct negotiations to only one contractor.

Nor was it stated if there were other bidders for the project. The questionable transparency behind such a move has earned the concern of Transparency-International Malaysia president, Paul Low.

 

On why the project's RM300 million cost as listed in the eight Malaysia Plan (8MP) had ballooned to RM500 million, the PWD stated the project specifications were updated to meet changing needs.

"These include additional space and facilities for the hospital blocks which have been increased from 300 beds to 500 beds, as well as the additional quarters for nurses, trainee doctors and other staff," the department's reply stated.

Project will be monitored

The PWD also stands firm behind its choice of SunShine Fleet Sdn Bhd, which is owned by the Selangor sultan's sister, Tengku Putri Arafiah Abd Aziz Shah, as the chosen contractor.

NONE According to the department, referring to the technical report submitted by the contractor, the contractor's organisational structure, available technical expertise and consultants qualified it to undertake the project.

However, it was not revealed to Malaysiakini if the PWD actually checked all the claims by the company in their submitted report or if their evaluations were based only on the report itself.

It has been alleged that Sunshine Fleet is not qualified to undertake the half-billion ringgit project, as the company is listed as a contractor for renovations on several online contractor listing.

The PWD also informed Malaysiakini that the project's deadline has been extended from November this year to end of June next year. This extension, it stated, was to allow for companies to react to the sudden rise in fuel and construction material costs in 2008.

However, the department gave its assurance that during the remainder of the construction period, it would monitor the project closely to ensure that the "implementation of the project will be according to schedule."