pedestrian walkways

Most will be glad that pedestrian walkways are being built for the city dwellers and visitors. However, there is always the concerns by some of the peoples:

1. How the tenders were awarded.

2. The Maintenance.

These two issues were not responded by the minister Nong Chik.

The present close tender is not to the benefits of the people. Only selected people or companies were invited, some of which had no knowledge of the works involved.

There are always the possibility that it can be misused. This leads to:

a. people with connections, such as politician will get the project.

b. The cost can be double or even triple. Just check the auditor

Quoted..Tale of two telling reports

While the Malaysian Auditor General’s Report ran into 679 pages, the same report across the Causeway was just 59 pages. Singapore’s very transparent tender system could be the reason for the difference.. unquote

The start carry the news..

Monday February 14, 2011

MP questions cost of building pedestrian walkways in the city

By FAZLEENA AZIZ
fazleena@thestar.com.my

Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar is questioning the amount of money spent in constructing pedestrian walkways in the city.

She said the concerns on the cost, future maintenance and open tenders had remained unanswered by the Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

Nurul Izzah met reporters at the newly-opened walkway over Jalan Pinang and Jalan Kia Peng that connects the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) to the Impiana KLCC Hotel.

New facility: The RM10mil walkway over Jalan Pinang and Jalan Kia Peng in Kuala Lumpur.

It was launched by Raja Nong Chik recently.

The 142m walkway has disabled-friendly tact tiles, elevators and escalators on both ends and was funded by Petronas at a cost of RM0mil.

“The walkways in Singapore are maintained by the Urban Redevelop-ment Authority (URA) through an open tender system using a special construction cost formula.

She said with the increasing cost of living in the country, it was important that the money was spent wisely.

“I am happy that corporations have come in to build this pedestrian walkway but we want to know the actual cost borne by the companies.

“DBKL needs to facilitate this properly and be open to public scrutiny as well as see the viability in building these walkways,” she said.

Based on DBKL 2009 Budget, a total of 72 pedestrian walkways will be built, while another 35 is to be sponsored by companies.

Nong Chik has said that an open tender was carried out by KLCC Holdings Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Petronas.

The cost was borne by KLCC Holdings as part of their corporate social responsibility effort.

He said neither he nor the mayor were involved in the selection of the contractor.

“The walkway should not be compared with any normal pedestrian bridge because it has modern and safety features as well as is disabled-friendly,” he said.

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Unfortunate the minister did not elaborate on the tender process.

The construction of government projects had been hits by problems . It ranged from falling buildings, falling roofs and ceilings to cost over-run. The examples were the national palace and the falling ceiling of the hospital in serdang:

JKR to probe Serdang Hospital ceiling collapse

1 Feb 2011 ... At the scene: Liow (left) at the Serdang Hospitalyesterday, inspecting the site where the ceiling gave way on Sunday morning. ...

thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/1/nation/7911518&sec=nation