The Education Ministry has botched up a major project to erect 15 more fully residential schools nationwide so that students from rural areas can afford secondary education.

The Auditor-General's Report 2013 said many things could have been done better as three of these projects ended up being 90 days to 909 days late and many more did not materialise as specified.

The estimated cost of each project was between RM38.48 million to RM76.25 million and they were all handed out to separate contractors through direct negotiations.

"Audit conducted from April to Sept 2013 revealed that three fully residential schools had been completed, handed over and fully operational," the report noted.

"During the audit visit, these schools were able to accommodate a total of 1,845 students. However, the construction management was not implemented efficiently and properly."  

The report did not mention what happened to the other 12 schools but only noted that MOE already had 54 such schools at the end of 2004, before starting on this expansion project in 2005.

The auditor-general office said the superintending officer of the projects was the secretary-general of the MOE and the projects were monitored by the education development division.

According to MOE's plan, the schools should have full administrative facilities such as  office, principal, senior assistant, teachers and meeting rooms and as for academic facilities involving classrooms, resource centres as well as science, language and computer laboratories.  

Other facilities include dormitories, officers' quarters, multipurpose halls, sports ground,  prayer room and canteen.

"In addition to the  construction work, furniture and fittings as well as equipment were also part of the scope," the report said.

Even after the delays, the schools were still either badly-designed or in a bad shape, the audit report noted.

"Monitoring and supervision by consultants and MOE were ineffective as there were defects and damages that had not been repaired by the contractors," it said.

Some schools also didn't get their Certificate of Completion and Compliance  (CCC) on time and were late in handing in their designs for MOE approval.

Meanwhile, the auditor-general report also slammed Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) for being a bad manager of the city's advertisement billboards and signages.

Going through DBKL's accounts in July to September 2013, the auditor-general office found that DBKL collected RM52 million in advertisement license fees from 2010-2013.

However, as at December 2012, some RM138 million in fees were still overdue or unpaid.

The auditor-general report noted that DBKL's system for advertisements in the city, which has been under its purview since 1982, were not user friendly and "there were applications  being  approved without complying with the stipulated conditions," the report noted.

It also pointed out "ineffective  enforcement on imposition of compounds and removal of advertisement/signage structure due  to constraints in human resource, logistics and workers'  safety  aspect as well as third party interference."

Related stories

Pakatan MPs kicked out of audit report briefing

Works Ministry gets road half of expected length

Top guns take media heat at audit report briefing

Can't recover payment due to KTMB's bungle

Ministry says 'no loss' from RTM's RM111mil deals

Gov't neglected rural boarding schools project

Kelantan councils breach procurement process

PKNS subsidiary eyed land at five times market price

'Don't let Malays become squatters in their land'

'Make ministers accountable for wastages'

Wastage of funds has dropped by 75pct, says Ambrin

‘Rubber board must plan procurement carefully’