KOTA KINABALU: The management of road maintenance in Sabah by road concession holders or maintenance contractors is inefficient and fails to meet the objectives of road maintenance, according to the 2018 Auditor-General’s Report Series 2 released yesterday.
The report said, based on the 2018 Road Condition Index, 55.3% of state roads are on Scale 3 (moderate) and Scale 4 (bad) which require regular maintenance, while 4.5% are on Scale 5 (non-maintainable roads) that require total reconstruction work.
The audit conducted between October 2018 and January 2019 also found other weaknesses in the areas of financial performance, quality of maintenance work, contract administration and monitoring that needed to be improved to enhance the efficiency of road maintenance management in Sabah, which is under the purview of the state’s Public Works Department (JKR).
To improve the management of state roads by concession holders and maintenance contractors, the Auditor-General’s Report recommends that the state government consider increasing the allocation for state road maintenance so that it for maintenance of state roads be done according to schedule.
The report said proper maintenance could help prevent further damage to road surface which inadvertently would help the state government to reduce cost of maintenance and repair in future.
The report also said that the state JKR needs to increase its inspection and monitoring activities to ensure that the routine maintenance undertaken by the concession holders and maintenance contractors meet the standards and quality stated in the contract.
Payment rates for routine maintenance for concessionaires and maintenance contractors should be standardised, and fines should be imposed on them if the maintenance work was done not according to specifications, the report added. — Bernama
