KUALA LUMPUR (June 17): The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that the delay in the completion of the East Coast Expressway Project Phase 2 (LPT2) was due to changes in the entire design and structure, from a Federal highway to Toll highway.

PAC chairman, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, said following the changes, the government had to fork out an additional RM800 million to include the new design of the highway, building toll plazas and R&R areas.

"The additional allocation was also for the acquisition of bigger parcels of land and an increase in the prices of raw material.

The project, which was supposed to have been completed in 2009, was also delayed because the additional allocation had to come from the 11th Malaysia Plan (RMK-11), while the initial project was funded under RMK-10," he told reporters, after a briefing by the Ministry of Works on why there was a delay in the LPT2, here today.

PAC had summoned the Ministry of Works to explain delays in the completion of the project, which was highlighted in the first series of the Auditor-General’s (AG) Report 2013, in April.

The LPT2, which links Jabor, Kemaman to Kampung Gemuruh, Kuala Terengganu, is a 184km stretch that started in 2006, and supposed to have been completed in 2009, but the project was delayed and started only in 2011 and expected to be completed by September 2014.

The project came under the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department (PWD), which managed the construction of 120km at a cost of RM2.09 billion, and the Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (LLM) was to construct 64km at a cost of RM1.5 billion.

Nur Jazlan said that the additional RM800 million provided for PWD, pushed the overall cost of the project from RM2.09 billion to RM2.9 billion.

"From the RM2.9 billion, the contractors have spent RM2.75 billion to complete 95 percent of the project, while the 64km awarded to LLM had already been completed," he said.

"We cannot accept delays involving government projects, because construction of buildings is nothing new. We have been building roads, schools, police stations, for years. So delays are unacceptable..we are not building nuclear submarines, but buildings and roads.

"Such delays will also erode the trust of the people. People will start questioning the capability and ability of government departments and agencies, in carrying out their responsibilities," he said.