By Danial Dzulkifly
KLANG, May 28 — State executive councillor for infrastructure and agriculture Izham Hashim has expressed confidence that Selangor’s Raw Water Guarantee Scheme (SJAM) will be operational by August this year, following delays.
He noted that the works being done on Package A of the project undertaken by Menta Sdn Bhd, which failed to meet the previous deadline, is now progressing well.
“The project is progressing well and is on track to meet its intended target,” he told reporters after attending the sponsorship reception ceremony between Affin Group and Landasan Lumayan Sdn Bhd for the operations of the river cleaning vessel Interceptor 002 in Sungai Klang, at the Pengkalan Batu Jetty, here, today.
However, Izham did not rule out the possibility of further delays, adding that it is not unusual for developers to ask for an extension of time.
This comes in light of reports that Menta had purportedly requested to extend the project deadline to December.
Previously in March, Selangor Special Select Committee on Water Management, Agriculture, Infrastructure and Mobility (Infragro) urged the state government to take stricter action against companies failing to comply with conditions set out in their contracts for public-related projects.
This is after the committee found that Menta, which is responsible for works on Package A of the SJAM project, failed to meet its deadline and subsequently caused the delay of the initiative’s implementation.
In view of this, Infragro chairman Michelle Ng Mei Sze recommended that the state government reprimand Menta.
She also expressed dissatisfaction with the answers provided by the company during a hearing conducted by her committee on the project’s delayed status.
Meanwhile, Izham assured that the Bandar Saujana Putra flyover will be open to the public by next month, following a slight delay from its initial May deadline due to an ongoing audit process.
“We still need to do inspection works before we can proceed to open the project for public use,” he said.
The flyover was announced in 2019 and was slated to open to the public in May this year after years of delay.
Previously in February, Izham had said that the project was 95 per cent done, with its physical structure expected to be completed by March and made available for public use shortly after.
