KULAI, April 13 — The increase in operating costs, especially diesel fuel, due to the current global energy crisis is expected to cause increased delays in road construction and maintenance projects nationwide.
Deputy Minister of Works Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Maslan said his ministry expected the number of projects behind schedule to increase compared to before.
He said that of the 855 projects in implementation under the Public Works Department (JKR) involving 28 ministries previously, one-third were ahead of schedule, one-third were on schedule and one-third were late.
Ahmad explained that road construction and maintenance projects were the most affected sector due to their high dependence on the use of diesel to power heavy machinery such as lorries and road rollers.
“Because all the vehicles that make roads use diesel… so this industry is indeed following market prices and that is their main complaint.
“What is affected is road maintenance and the construction of new roads, while for building construction, they can still use up existing building materials. However, with the current situation, we are worried that this category of late projects will increase,” he said.
He said this to reporters during an official working visit to the Kulai District Public Works Department at the Kulai District Engineer’s Office, here, today.
Ahmad said the industry estimated the cost increase to be between 30 and 40 percent, but the government did not want to rely on that figure without more accurate data confirmation.
Therefore, he said, the Works Ministry is currently obtaining official data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) to determine the actual rate of increase in the price of building materials.
“DOSM has a scientific and systematic calculation method covering various sectors including building materials, food and transportation. We will use their data as an official reference,” he said.
In addition, he said his party had also held meetings with several contractor associations including the Malaysian Bumiputera Contractors Association (PKBM), the Malaysian Malay Contractors Association (PKMM), the Malaysian Class F Bumiputera Contractors Association (Perkobf) and the mechanical contractors association to obtain industry feedback.
— BERNAMA
