In November of last year, a netizen over Twitter had gone viral after pointing out how an escalator nearing the Sri Rampai LRT station had been left in a state of disrepair for over a period of five years. And to prove it, he even uploaded two photos of the very same escalator: one from 2016 and another from 2021, to prove his point.
Taman Sri Rampai LRT escalator repaired after over 5 years
And while the Tweet did eventually catch the attention of public transport operator RapidKL, the netizen was later informed that as the escalator was outside the vicinity of the train station, the maintenance responsibility fell to the city council.
But at along last, after having been volleyed between different bureaucratic agencies, the escalator at Sri Rampai LRT station has since been finally repaired, according to the Kuala Lumpur City Council. In a video that was shared to the council’s official Facebook page, they show how pedestrians have already made full use of the newly up-and-running escalator after safety checks were completed.
How did a clothing company receive an escalator repair contract?
Yet, questions surrounding the tender process for the escalator’s repair works still remain after opposition party MUDA released a press statement on the 14th of June.
KENYATAAN MEDIA
PROJEK KEMUDAHAN AWAM ATAU MEMUDAHKAN KRONI?
14 JUN 2022#MUDAsudahMula #MUDAWilayah #MUDASetiawangsa #ParlimenSetiawangsa pic.twitter.com/GHv9HjLTfF— MUDA Setiawangsa (@mudasetiawangsa) June 14, 2022
According to them, the repair contract had been awarded to a company called Bossque Skyline Sdn Bhd, with SSM records showing that the company’s nature of business involved the retail sale of clothing and clothing accessories. What’s more, the company was not registered with the Department of Occupational Safety & Health either.
Which brings us to the question as to how and why a company specialising in the retail sale of clothing items would somehow have been awarded a repair contract for an escalator, when it had no prior experience in handling maintenance works. This is compounded by the fact that the company isn’t related to maintenance or infrastructure development companies such as Prasaran Berhad.
It also begs to ask if the repair works completed were compliant with industry standards. Additional checks on the DBKL website indicate that Bossque Skyline Sdn Bhd was awarded with another contract worth RM465,200 in 2021.
DBKL claims that the company is compliant with their requirements
In response to the allegations, the city council has since released a statement of their own explaining that the contract was awarded to the clothing retailer as they have fulfilled all of their necessary criteria. According to FMT, the tender was opened on 2nd April to 15th April 2022 to bumiputera contractors, with Bossque Skyline Sdn Bhd being selected by the tender evaluation committee.
This was said to be the case as the company quoted a reasonable price for the repairs, and was financially stable at the time of the tender application.
What’s more, DBKL claims that the company possesses a Bumiputera contractor certificate for construction, civil engineering and mechanical and electrical works, a certification issued by the finance ministry for repair and maintenance works, as well as a a public procurement certificate from the Construction Industry Development Board recognised by the entrepreneur development and cooperatives ministry.
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