Construction firm Ahmad Zaki Resources Berhad (AZRB) denied today that it was the contractor that built the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium at the Gong Badak Sports Complex in Terengganu whose roof collapsed last year.

When contacted by Malaysiakini today, an AZRB official stressed that the firm was not the company contracted for the job at the ill-fated stadium.

"No, we were not involved in the construction of the main stadium. Ours was the indoor stadium next to it,” the official, who declined to be identified, said.

Later this afternoon, AZRB issued a press statement on the matter.

"We note with deep regret the allegations linking ourselves with the construction of main stadium project at Gong Badak Sports Complex in Terengganu and Middle Ring Road 2," it said.

"AZRB wishes to state firmly and categorically that it was never involved with the said projects in whatever manner or form. The allegations as reported are baseless, false and made with bad intent."

Contract for flyover

DAP’s Taiping parliamentarian Nga Kor Ming claimed yesterday that the same contractor for the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium was awarded the contract for the new National Palace.

AZRB has been awarded the contract to build a flyover for the Agong’s RM800 million new palace near the Duta Court Complex in Kuala Lumpur.

“Why is the same contractor behind the collapsed stadium working on the symbol of national pride and the king's home,” Nga asked in a press conference in Parliament yesterday.

The roof structure of the RM300 million Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium collapsed, soon after hosting the 12th Sukma (Sukan Malaysia) games, a year after completion.

Poor quality materials and workmanship not up to specifications have been identified as among main reasons for the collapse of the stadium's space frame roof structure in June 2009.

Nga, when contacted today, said that he had picked up the information regarding AZRB from a Chinese-based online news portal claiming that the construction agency had built the troubled main stadium in Kuala Terengganu. 

"I read it online and I had believed it to be correct," said Nga.