PUTRAJAYA, Aug 3 ― The Finance Ministry said today that the contractor of the delayed Bera hospital had been a “viable” candidate when it was awarded the lucrative government contract.
The RM88 million project now four years late made the news recently through the latest Auditor-General report, released Monday.
“This is a collective decision. At the time the decision was made, the contractor was seen as viable,” Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Irwan Serigar Abdullah said during a townhall session with the press here on the Auditor-General’s 2016 report.
The RM88 million project was awarded via direct negotiations without open tender.
Irwan said that a procurement committee within the Ministry of Finance evaluated all aspects before awarding the contract, regardless of which Minister had signed on the approval for the project.
Already past its deadline, the hospital is now only due to be completed in 2019.
Irwan said that direct negotiations are sometimes used to “save time and cost” for the government in awarding a contract, but explained that Putrajaya is increasingly choosing open tenders for its projects.
“Last year for example, 59.57 per cent of the projects were awarded through open tender, while 39 per cent was done through direct negotiations. Every year the amount of open tender projects is increasing,” he said.
Irwan also said that the government-guaranteed debt, which rose for the fourth consecutive year, is still “manageable” and would not affect Putrajaya.
He said that the government guaranteed debts was in part due to the government spearheading mega infrastructure projects.
“We are confident that in 20 years’ time, all these debts will be paid off by the entities themselves — even those by Prasarana and the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN),” Irwan said.
