KUALA LUMPUR: The termination of the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) for the Pan Borneo Highway under the previous Pakatan Harapan administration has not only delayed the project in Sabah and Sarawak but also resulted in unemployment.
Senior Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said the termination of the PDP resulted in some 500 people in Sarawak and 300 people in Sabah becoming unemployed.
"Some of them may have been re-hired (after the Federal government took over the development of the project). However, most of them did not receive any employment opportunities since no company wanted to employ them.
"This (the termination of the PDP) would definitely result in an impact where we have lost technical experts who were trained and employed when the PDP was set-up for the Pan Borneo Highway project.
"Our main focus is now to look for ways on how we can hasten the completion of Pan Borneo Highway without compromising the quality of the project," he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Fadillah said the new completion date for the Pan Borneo Highway has been extended to 2022 for the stretch in Sarawak and 2023 for Sabah due to the termination of the PDP.
Before the termination of the PDP, Fadillah said the Pan Borneo Highway stretch in Sarawak was supposed to be completed by next year.
He was responding to a supplementary question from Yusuf Abd Wahab (Gabungan Parti Sarawak-Tanjong Manis) on the measures introduced by the ministry to assist partners and consultants who became unemployed after the government under the previous regime took over the development of the Pan Borneo Highway.
On a separate supplementary question from Datuk Dr Shahruddin Md Salleh (Independent-Sri Gading), Fadillah said the spirit behind the establishment of the PDP included helping the development of Bumiputera contractors.
"Under the PDP concept, the government will identify contractors who are capable of carrying out large-scale projects in Sabah and Sarawak.
"If there is none, we will group them (contractors) with experts with vast experience from outside the states especially from the peninsular. That is why there were many joint ventures established (in relation to the Pan Borneo Highway) project.
"Among the aims of the PDP is to produce more Bumiputera contractors. This was reflected in the agreement (under the PDP) that 30 per cent of the project must be distributed to Bumiputera contractors.
"After the termination of the PDP, I am not sure if there is a unit in the Public Works Department in Sabah and Sarawak which will check on the involvement of Bumiputera contracts in the Pan Borneo Highway project," he said.
