"Lawatan sambil bekerja" is the more popular phrase in BM.
Yes, is PAC going to seriously look into the cracks at MRR2 and dig deeper into the previous cost of repair that mysteriously mushroomed from RM40 million to RM70 million?
I had traveled on MRR2 numerous times after the repair work was done. Frankly, each time I plied the road or 'highway', I never felt secure and feared that it would collapse anytime!
Before this, PAC also had a "lawatan sambil bekerja" to the controversial 'Pork Klang Free Zone' that resulted in a government bailout of RM4.6 billion.
Is this "lawatan sambil bekerja" going to see another 'tug-of-war' between the works ministry and the public works department? We shall see!
Following report by Malaysiakini:
PAC to visit MRR2 site tomorrow
Fauwaz Abdul Aziz | Aug 11, 08 4:06pm
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will visit the defective Middle Ring Road II (MRR2) flyover in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, one week after clumps of concrete and carbon fibre panels fell from one of the busy highway's pillars.
PAC chairperson Azmi Khalid said the committee members wanted to see for themselves the extent of the damage caused by the cracked pillar.
They also wanted to be briefed by the Public Works Department, or JKR, on the condition of the construct and the remedial works commenced, he added.
Azmi further said that former Works Minister S Samy Vellu will not be called by the PAC to answer for the current problems besetting the MRR2 as he was no longer in government.
"Samy Vellu is no more a minister. During his tenure, he was responsible overall, but today, he is no longer (in the cabinet) and it is the JKR that continues to hold responsibility (over the matter)," he told a press conference after holding a PAC meeting in Parliament.
"We will call JKR and if necessary, the minister (Mohd Zin Mohamed). I believe it would be more accurate to call JKR," he added.
The flyover and the road beneath were closed from 10.30am to 5pm two Sundays ago - causing a traffic snarl several kilometers long - after three of the 18 carbon fibre panels on pillar 28 and several clumps of concrete fell onto the road.
Two of the six lanes are closed and will remain so for three weeks - until a team of consultants makes a detailed study of the damage. Zin, however, gave the assurance that the structure was safe for use.
Repairs were done in February 2006 - when cracks appeared on all but two of the 33 pillars of the flyover elevated over the Kepong part of the second middle-ring road. Similar repairs were carried out in August 2004.
PAC's previous chairperson Shahrir Abdul Samad had disclosed an additional RM70 million had been spent to repair the Kepong stretch of the MRR2, which originally cost RM120 million to build.
PAC should call Azmi as witness
In an immediate reaction, opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said Azmi should step down as PAC chief as he was also the subject of the committee's investigations.
"It is not only most invidious, improper but also a clear and flagrant conflict of interest for Azmi to now preside over an investigation into the two-year RM70 million repairs...," he said in a press statement.
According to Lim, the decision to award the repair contract by the cabinet, in which Azmi was a member as the then natural resources and environment minister, "raises many disturbing questions about their propriety and wisdom".
"I had raised in the previous Parliament the intense turf war between the then works minister Samy Vellu and the Public Works Department director-general, about how, the costs and who should be awarded the contract to carry out the MRR2 repairs, and how the prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had to personally intervene to resolve the matter by convening a special meeting on a Friday on Feb 3, 2006...
"Samy Vellu won the battle against the PWD at the Feb 3 meeting but eventually lost the war. Although Samy Vellu announced after the meeting that the MRR2 repair work would be supervised by the British-based consultants Halcrow, maintaining that the costs would be RM18 million, the turf war was finally won by the PWD at a cabinet meeting two weeks later, which upheld the PWD's recommendation in awarding the repair work to German consulting firm Leonhardt Andra and Partners at a cost of RM40 million, which later mushroomed mysteriously to RM70 million!"
Lim said that Azmi should go before PAC and give a full account of why the contract for the repairs was finally awarded to LAP and explain the more-than-triple of the original repair costs.
Yes, is PAC going to seriously look into the cracks at MRR2 and dig deeper into the previous cost of repair that mysteriously mushroomed from RM40 million to RM70 million?
I had traveled on MRR2 numerous times after the repair work was done. Frankly, each time I plied the road or 'highway', I never felt secure and feared that it would collapse anytime!
Before this, PAC also had a "lawatan sambil bekerja" to the controversial 'Pork Klang Free Zone' that resulted in a government bailout of RM4.6 billion.
Is this "lawatan sambil bekerja" going to see another 'tug-of-war' between the works ministry and the public works department? We shall see!
Following report by Malaysiakini:
PAC to visit MRR2 site tomorrow
Fauwaz Abdul Aziz | Aug 11, 08 4:06pm
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will visit the defective Middle Ring Road II (MRR2) flyover in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, one week after clumps of concrete and carbon fibre panels fell from one of the busy highway's pillars.
PAC chairperson Azmi Khalid said the committee members wanted to see for themselves the extent of the damage caused by the cracked pillar.They also wanted to be briefed by the Public Works Department, or JKR, on the condition of the construct and the remedial works commenced, he added.
Azmi further said that former Works Minister S Samy Vellu will not be called by the PAC to answer for the current problems besetting the MRR2 as he was no longer in government.
"Samy Vellu is no more a minister. During his tenure, he was responsible overall, but today, he is no longer (in the cabinet) and it is the JKR that continues to hold responsibility (over the matter)," he told a press conference after holding a PAC meeting in Parliament.
"We will call JKR and if necessary, the minister (Mohd Zin Mohamed). I believe it would be more accurate to call JKR," he added.
The flyover and the road beneath were closed from 10.30am to 5pm two Sundays ago - causing a traffic snarl several kilometers long - after three of the 18 carbon fibre panels on pillar 28 and several clumps of concrete fell onto the road.Two of the six lanes are closed and will remain so for three weeks - until a team of consultants makes a detailed study of the damage. Zin, however, gave the assurance that the structure was safe for use.
Repairs were done in February 2006 - when cracks appeared on all but two of the 33 pillars of the flyover elevated over the Kepong part of the second middle-ring road. Similar repairs were carried out in August 2004.
PAC's previous chairperson Shahrir Abdul Samad had disclosed an additional RM70 million had been spent to repair the Kepong stretch of the MRR2, which originally cost RM120 million to build.
PAC should call Azmi as witness
In an immediate reaction, opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said Azmi should step down as PAC chief as he was also the subject of the committee's investigations.
"It is not only most invidious, improper but also a clear and flagrant conflict of interest for Azmi to now preside over an investigation into the two-year RM70 million repairs...," he said in a press statement.
According to Lim, the decision to award the repair contract by the cabinet, in which Azmi was a member as the then natural resources and environment minister, "raises many disturbing questions about their propriety and wisdom"."I had raised in the previous Parliament the intense turf war between the then works minister Samy Vellu and the Public Works Department director-general, about how, the costs and who should be awarded the contract to carry out the MRR2 repairs, and how the prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had to personally intervene to resolve the matter by convening a special meeting on a Friday on Feb 3, 2006...
"Samy Vellu won the battle against the PWD at the Feb 3 meeting but eventually lost the war. Although Samy Vellu announced after the meeting that the MRR2 repair work would be supervised by the British-based consultants Halcrow, maintaining that the costs would be RM18 million, the turf war was finally won by the PWD at a cabinet meeting two weeks later, which upheld the PWD's recommendation in awarding the repair work to German consulting firm Leonhardt Andra and Partners at a cost of RM40 million, which later mushroomed mysteriously to RM70 million!"
Lim said that Azmi should go before PAC and give a full account of why the contract for the repairs was finally awarded to LAP and explain the more-than-triple of the original repair costs.
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