BETONG, Jan 22 — Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah today dismissed claims that the state government is discriminating against contractors from China who are involved in infrastructure projects in Sarawak.

He said the claims could have arisen when the state government terminated the contract of a Chinese firm involved in the construction of the RM99 million Rambungan bridge in Lundu — which has been described as a sick project four years after it started.

"Actually, we have a number of engineering firms from China involved in our big infrastructural projects implementation with local partners statewide,” he said after visiting the construction site of the Batang Saribas 2 bridge in Beladin, near here.

He said the state Ministry of Infrastructure and Port Development has always been very objective in its assessment of any contractor’s performance in implementing the state projects.

"That is why today I have invited the Consul General of China in Kuching, Xing Weiping, to join me on this visit,” he added, stating that he wanted to show to the Chinese diplomat how the state conducts project implementation.

He said three bridge projects, namely Batang Lupar 1, Batang Saribas 1 and Batang Saribas 2, are all involved contractors from China.

"We have also informed Xing that should [Chinese contractors] fail to show the expected performance, there will be a time when we have to terminate their contracts like what we did in the Rambungan Bridge project,” Uggah, who is also the state minister of infrastructure and port development said.

"We are not victimising or discriminating against anyone,” he said, adding that the state government is just imposing its regulations and laws.

He said the state government wants to make sure that contractors are responsible for completing their projects on time.

"I hope Xing will understand our approach,” he added.

On the RM848.745 million Batang Lupar 1 bridge project, Uggah said he is happy with its progress, adding, however, that there are some small issues that the contractor has to find ways to resolve soonest.

He added the bridge is expected to be completed by November next year.

On the RM375.5 million Batang Saribas Bridge 1 project, he said it is behind schedule and is targeted to be completed in April ,2025.

He said the actual physical progress is 76.60 per cent against its schedule of 86.54 per cent.

On the Batang Saribas Bridge 2 project, he said the RM385 million project was expected to be ready by August 1, 2025.