Be different from previous administration, King Wei tells Adenan

KUCHING, Nov 13, 2014: Padungan state lawmaker Wong King Wei has urged the state government to hold open tenders for all government contracts, state lands, timber logging licence to quality contractors.

He said holding open tenders will ensure that Sarawak's wealth is being fairly distributed among Sarawakians.

"Currently, government projects are awarded by direct negotiation, which is a very opaque method, and many a times the government cannot explain why some projects are given to a particular company," he said when debating the State Budget in the State Assembly.

He said if Chief Minister Adenan Satem is willing to be different from the previous administration and be more transparent in his governing, he needs to let go the old baggage, and holds open tenders to contractors who are truly qualified.

"That way  Sarawak's wealth is equally distributed among Sarawakians," Wong (picture) said.

He said the Sarawak government needs to create more healthy competition among Sarawakians, and not award projects to a particular company without tendering, for example, all state roads are maintained by CMS Road Sdn Bhd under a 15-year contract lasting till end of 2017. It was directly awarded on Jan 1, 2003.

"Therefore I am bringing this up in 2014, to remind the government that before renewing this contract, please consider to award such a big project to a new company through just, open and fair means.

"This maintenance project spans 4973.47 km of state road, and the maintenance fees cost the government RM 2298.68 per km every month," he added.

Wong urged the State government to invite qualified Sarawakians to bid through just, fair and open means when appointing new contractors, so that everyone can see that there are no bias during the bidding process.

He also said that 15 years is too long for such a contract, and should be shortened to five years so that the state government can constantly review the quality of the contractors.

Other than that, Wong noted that this contract must also be fair to the state government.

"The Government must have the authority to control the qualifications of every aspect of the maintenance, failing which the state government must have the authority to terminate the service of the contractor," he said.

Wong also suggested that the government could also consider partitioning state roads to zones and contracting it to different companies and not awarding it to just one company.

"In this way more companies can benefit from government projects, sharing the Sarawak economy pie equally with more people.

"Monitoring the quality of road maintenance is also easier done with different companies on board," he added.

 Wong said that  the people have high hopes on Adenan for drawing the line with corruption and cronyism.

He urged Adenan to take this as an opportunity to prove that he is serious about fighting corruption and cronyism, as well as prove that his cabinet has this resolve.