KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 — The projects to upgrade dilapidated schools in Sabah will only be undertaken by the Sabah Public Works Department (JKR), the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Deputy Education Minister II Datuk Mohamad Alamin said this was due to the limited capacity and technical expertise of the Sabah State Education Department (JPN) and the District Education Offices (PPD).
“Currently, the number of technical posts in JPN and PPD does not meet the requirements of the main engineering disciplines like civil and structural engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, architecture and surveying tools,” he said during the question-and-answer time.
He was replying to a question from Ma’mun Sulaiman (Warisan-Kalabakan) who wanted to know whether approval could be given to JPN and hence the Tawau District JPN to undertake such projects in the Kalabakan parliamentary constituency.
Alamin said that according to Treasury Directive 182 (AP182), ministries or non-technical departments must obtain services from a technical department to implement all work projects subject to the regulations in force from time to time.
“If the ministry or department wants to implement the work project by itself, special approval for AP182 exemption from the director-general of the relevant technical department must be obtained,” he said.
Replying to supplementary question from Ma’mun on the delay in implementation of the projects, Alamin said firstly, there were several factors that contributed to the delay, including the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The second is about the land site. The availability of land is very important but there are many issues in our implementation of these projects (and) I gather that this land issue still lingers, (while) the third is technical delays,” he replied. — Bernama
