AIRPORT UPGRADING, PUTTING PEOPLE'S LIVE AT RISK

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) said Barisan Nasional (BN) Government is putting the people lives in threat by its mismanagement of the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) runway expansion project.

“The revelation of the main contractor to develop Kota Kinabalu International Airport that the runway was not safe and would be closed clearly signalled doomsday to the tourism industry, our biggest revenues.

“They never completes of the 10 storeys new tower block of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital here are putting the lives of the people in danger as it is the only referral general hospital for the whole people of Sabah, Labuan and few districts in Sarawak,” said SAPP Information Chief Chong Pit Fah here Wednesday.

He said it is clear that the BN tagline of Janji di Tepati (Promises Fulfilled) is actually Janji Bohong or lies.    

“Such unfair treatment to Sabah spells doom to the once regarded as the richest and prosperous in Malaysia,” he said.

In addition, he said worst still is the perennial problems of illegal immigrants, which the Federal Government seems does not want to solve. 

He said KKIA, the second biggest international airport in Malaysia was shut down twice this year and the Federal BN Government do nothing but pointing fingers to others.

And few days ago, Pit Fah said, Tourism and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun had said that Sabah is expecting more tourist arrivals from China, however, it seems that it is not going to happen.      

Global Upline Sdn Bhd (GUSB) had on Wednesday announced that it has stopped all works to develop the KKIA effective Monday.

Its Chief Advisor, Tan Sri Ting Pek Khiing, said the Ministry of Transport (MOT) failed to fulfill its promise to issue a Certificate of Practical Completion (CPC) to GUSB upon completion of section one of the works in Package 2 of the project by April 30 this year.

This, he said, meant the runway was not safe for landing and take-off of aircraft as well as other operations on the runway since it had been certified non-complete by MOT and would be closed.

“By April 30 this year, GUSB had practically completed section one of the works by using its best financial endeavour and fully utilised its available resources.

“MOT, however, refused to issue the CPC and subsequent release of 50 per cent of the Banker’s Guarantee (BG) and instead, issued a Certificate of Non-Completion (CNC) and imposed Liquidated Damages (LAD),” he said in a statement.

According to Chong, the RM364 million project to build the 10-storey tower block to replace the unsafe twin tower of the QEH commenced on June 7, 2010.

He said the new tower block was supposed to have been completed by January this year, but was later deferred to end of this year.

He added that the Federal BN Government also took almost two years to start that construction of the new tower block, which implies that they are facing financial problem.

He said GUSB revelation could be interpreted that the Federal BN Government is facing bankruptcy.

Chong went on saying that the Federal BN Government current debts stand at RM568 billion, which could be translated that each and one of Malaysian is in debt of thousands of Ringgit.