THE failure of a subcontractor to complete tiling works at Kem Iskandar's combat diving pool in Mersing seemed trivial, even ludicrous. The job appears minor, one that could be executed in a matter of weeks, if not days.
Yet, the subcontractor failed to apply what were finishing touches to the pool complex, holding up its completion by a staggering 98 per cent.
The pool complex is for the training needs of the 21st Group Gerak Khas commandos, of which His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, is the Special Forces Group (GGK) Colonel Commandant.
Understandably, the monarch was furious over the delay and has demanded clarification from the state Public Works Department and Mersing district engineer.
The pool was slated for a December 2022 completion after its 2018 groundbreaking, yet the six extensions given weren't enough to finish construction. To his disgust, Sultan Ibrahim also discovered that the construction site project signboard was demolished, prompting him to demand a reinstallation.
Details of reasons for the delay were scant, but in comprehending the grievous nature of some government-funded construction works of the past, it is possible to postulate. We are continuously startled by such shoddiness, but is it surprising?
In most cases, failure had been inevitable, as if it was fated and written in the stars. We can't even begin to recall the number of government projects left hanging or completed with multiple corners cut that led to costly damage.
Here's how it often works: the main contractor wins a construction contract, often times through negotiated tender, but before a single piling work is done, the contractor splurges the funds on luxury cars and property, sometimes overseas, and pricey bling to flaunt.
What pittance is left from the tender funds is then outsourced to a third-party sub contractor, who is forced to complete the job, a task doable as long as they don't mind risking financial losses.
This is what caused many projects to stall previously. What's scandalous is that errant contractors get away with murder due to little or negligible monitoring and oversight until their failure is exposed. The relevant government agency is then compelled to re-tender the job at extra taxpayers' cost.
It is a despairing cliché, but do we think that the pool complex contractor can get away with this snafu? We think perhaps not this time. Not with Sultan Ibrahim breathing down the necks of every official involved, making good on his pledge to confront government jobbery at the highest levels.
With the king's ire fully evident, we expect entrusted officials to be shaken out of their oblivion and start delivering the goods. And by that, the offending contractor should justly be hauled up and their so-called "cable" to a political godfather won't spare them from facing the music.
