IPOH, Sept 27 — The Perak state government will request for the state assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to investigate three contractors tasked with building venues for the recently concluded 19th Malaysian Games (Sukma) construction process.

The venues in question are the Padang Bandaran Majlis Kerian football field, the Ipoh sports complex’s badminton arena, and the Velodrome Rakyat.

State youth and sports executive committee chairman Howard Lee Chuan How said the contractors would be referred to the PAC because the projects involved the state’s procurement mechanism.

"I have directed the Sukma secretariat to start planning the process for public hearing. We want to open a transparent discussion on this matter,” he told a press conference today.

"The public’s money was spent to create this infrastructure, but some work was not completed on time.

"The hearings will allow us to find answers and ensure that these issues will not happen again.”

Touching on the Velodrome Rakyat, Lee said some work on the venue was only completed two days before the cycling events began. 

"Weeks after the homologation was achieved, there was still problems. There is a loop in the middle of the velodrome allowing bicycles to be taken in and out.

"It was supposed to be repaved but this was only done two days before the events began. It was very ‘last minute’, and we have to investigate what caused these problems.”

Meanwhile, Lee said some toilets in the badminton arena had still not been completed — despite the fact that Sukma ended on Sept 22. 

And while work on the football venue in Kerian had wrapped before the events began, Lee said the process still ran into delays. 

Lee said the state was still studying the exact mechanism needed to haul up the contractors.

However, he said the target was for the hearings to be carried out before the state assembly’s Budget sitting — expected to come in November.  Lee said any action taken after the hearings would depend on what transpired during the process.

"There is no prejudice here. We only want to know what had happened,” he stressed.  "But if it is found that there is any criminal wrongdoing, we could turn to the police or the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. Otherwise, it will be a contractual issue.”