Thirty-three sub-contractors under Alam Flora Sdn Bhd today urged the Selangor government to help them by settling outstanding arrears of RM18 million for cleaning services carried out in and around Kuala Selangor.

According to a representative who spoke on behalf of the contractors, the outstanding amount was arrears for 15 months.

The spokesman, Asri Sharuddin, 39, said the government should have settled the outstanding amounts before deciding to terminate the services of Alam Flora.

"If can, we want the government to delay the termination of contract so that money owed to us can be settled. We too have commitments like payment of workers' salary.

"As contractors we even had to borrow money to carry out cleaning works," he said after handing over a memorandum to Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and his exco members at the State Secretariat Building in April.

On April 18, Abdul Khalid had announced that the state government would take over Alam Flora Sdn Bhd's job of cleaning the drains and cutting the grass in public areas, with immediate effect.

However, garbage collection and solid waste management would still remain under Alam Flora.

- Bernama