Who to trust? MUDA says Sri Rampai LRT escalator job given to clothing company, DBKL says no

Over the past few days, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) have been locked in a war of words over the repair bid of an escalator at the Sri Rampai LRT station.

On 14-June-2022, MUDA Federal Territories Chairman Taufiq Zarak told Focus Malaysia about his surprise upon discovering that the escalator’s repair contract was awarded to a clothing company.

Taufiq revealed that the contractor, Bossque Skyline Sdn Bhd, turns out to be a company registered as an enterprise selling clothes and has nothing to do with engineering that allows maintenance of escalators.

According to SSM, Bossque Skyline, previously known as Shakco Collections Sdn Bhd until 26-April-2019, was awarded the contract to repair the long under-maintenance escalator earlier this year.

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From the information on the signage, the escalator’s repair work was scheduled to be completed in April 2022, however, the escalator was only back up and running on 15-June-2022, a day after Taufiq questioned DBKL’s decision.

The Sri Rampai LRT escalator has been a sore subject for residents and LRT passengers in the area since 2016.

When the report from Focus Malaysia first broke, RapidRail was quick to point out that the escalator was one that ferries passengers from the car park and residents from across a bridge. Therefore, the repairs for the escalator were not under RapidRail’s jurisdiction.

DBKL has since responded to Taufiq’s questions about why the repair works were awarded to a company that has previously no experience with engineering work.

According to a statement, DBKL said that the tender was opened to Bumiputra contractors from 2- to 15-April-2022 and insisted it was awarded fairly to Bossque Skyline as they passed the evaluation requirements set by the tender evaluation committee.

DBKL notes that the company was financially stable and the price offered was reasonable. The company even has a public procurement certificate from the Construction Industry Development Board recognised by the entrepreneur development and cooperatives ministry.

Other than that, the company also has a certificate from the finance ministry to carry out repair and maintenance works along with a Bumiputera contractor certificate for construction, civil engineering, and mechanical and electrical works.

Now that the escalator is up and running once again, social media users can’t help but question if the repair work is up to par as the company had no prior engineering experience.

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