KUALA LUMPUR, 16 Oct: Local contractors should be given priority for contracts in the building of the Pan Borneo Highway project.
This is because the awarding of contracts to companies from Peninsular Malaysia only causes local contractors to get ‘bits’ of the work only.
The Member of Parliament for Sabah, Jimmy Wong Sze Phin (Kota Kinabalu) and Stephen Wong Tien Fatt (Sandakan) said that they want the construction contract to be done via open tender.
According to media reports the UEM-MMC concession company is understood to lead in the list to win the contract of the project.
“If this report is true, we urge the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to immediately stop any efforts to sign the contract.
“We also ask the Prime Minister to conduct an open tender for the Sabah side of this project,” he said at the Parliament lobby.
Apart from that, they have also denied any awarding to concession companies or cronies, including the matter of toll collection.
This is because concession companies like UEM-PLUS have reaped billions in profit through the collection of toll in Peninsular Malaysia despite having collected the construction capital.
“We do not want the people of Sabah to receive the same fate by paying toll for a long term when Sabah is one of the poorest states in Malaysia,” they added.
NS