PUTRAJAYA: The government has put in place mechanisms to avoid delays in project completion and ensure cost effectiveness. Referring to the New Sunday Times report yesterday on cost overruns in projects due to the incompetence of contractors and consultants, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohd Effendi Norwawi said the mechanisms would ensure only competent contractors were given government jobs. He said the government had drawn valuable lessons from case studies of failed projects, as well as the successful ones.
“We have put in place new initiatives to streamline our procurement processes and to ensure projects are delivered efficiently and cost effectively.”
These, he said, included:
• Ensuring projects are awarded to competent contractors; and,
• Installing systems to monitor projects on near real-time basis to spot any delivery problems early and resolve problems immediately.
This, Effendi said, should ensure significant improvements in the execution of projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP). The report quoted Deputy Auditor-General Anwari Suri as saying that some tenders for government projects had been given to those who were incompetent or did not have sufficient financial means to complete the work.
Anwari had said that these were among the reasons for shoddy work and delays in project completion. Effendi assured that the government had put in place a more stringent project procurement process.
Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry is considering setting up a central database system to prevent contractors from "hoarding" projects and sub-contracting them. Parliamentary secretary Datuk Dr Hilmi Yahaya said the issue of sub-contracting needed to be addressed immediately.
At present, he said, only consultants undertaking projects worth over RM50 million were registered with the government. "We need a central system to monitor projects awarded to contractors, even those at the district level," said Hilmi. Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said his ministry had put in place an "A-to-Z" monitoring system to ensure there were no hiccups in the implementation of projects. A strict vetting process for engaging contractors, he said, was in place to ensure that contractors who were already engaged in several other government projects were not awarded contracts by his ministry. This, he said, would mean the contractors concerned would be able to give priority to his ministry’s projects.
 Holy ravioli, is this really some kind of a joke. Did they read this before deciding to publish it?? This would be my thoughts or perhaps any layman's as the article is read;
- How was the contact awarded in the first place if they knew that some tenders for government projects had been given to those who were incompetent or did not have sufficient financial means to complete the work - why give it to them??
- Was there no QC or QA measures ?? - huh? this is 2007, not 1957!! - how were all other previous projects monitored??
- Only project of more than RM50 million registered with the Government!! Whose money is it if it were less than RM50 million ?? Private money or government money??
- There is no central system?? Heard of ICT?? Computers??
- Can contractors 'hoard' projects?? - bet they had some help or backup!!
I can bet that the public is not going to buy these rather lame excuses. Come on .. we are not idiots ... aiyyaa .. tak tau lah ...
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