PETALING JAYA: A road safety activist has panned the "potholes" in Budget 2023, saying that more than allocations, tighter laws are needed to address the increasing rate of road accidents.
Azlan Sani Zawawi, founder of the Ikatan Silaturahim Brotherhood group, said many allocations to fix potholes had been announced over the years, including various commitments by the government to ensure zero potholed public roads in the country, but none had produced good results.
"Every time the budget is presented, only the value of the total allocation is prioritised and announced.
"But the country actually needs various new Acts and enforcement to guarantee road safety and quality of maintenance," he said when contacted.
Azlan, who is better known as Lando, said that until now, there were still many utility companies whose poor quality street works leave potholes on the country’s roads, especially in big cities.
"Where is the Act that allows the owner of the road to act against such a company? If there is such an Act, where is the enforcement?
"As far as I know, the Public Works Department (JKR) does not have the authority to sue the contractor," he said.
Lando, whose group fixes potholes and raises awareness about road maintenance issues, also questioned the enforcement and monitoring done by JKR and local authorities at locations where road works were being carried out.
"Rarely do we see department representatives monitoring. Often, the result that we see would be that these newly paved roads would have holes, stripping and ripples due to poor quality work," he said.
He also called out the multilayer distribution of allocations in road infrastructure projects, saying that there was too much bureaucracy and wastage.
"From concessionaires to main contractors to many layers of subcontractors, with each of them taking management fees, not including the issue of introducer fees, political contributions and various other requests from the contractor, especially to speed up approvals and payments.
"Is this the way of professional work culture?" Lando questioned.
On the allocation of RM100,000 for each district to fix potholes and other road repair works under Budget 2023, Lando questioned if it would be given annually or as just a one-off payment.
"What about large districts such as Petaling?" questioned Lando.
On Friday (Feb 24), when presenting the Budget 2023, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had announced an allocation of RM100,000 for each district for federal road repairs, with the district engineer’s services to be engaged for such works, including for pothole repairs.
He also said RM2.7bil had been set aside to maintain and upgrade federal roads while another RM1.5bil was provided to upgrade and build new rural roads.
Another RM50mil had been allotted for the immediate installation of street lights, especially in accident-prone areas.
Lando said he was holding out hope for the best from the new government through Budget 2023, adding that if implemented well, especially in the case of the RM100,000 allocations for potholes, there would be an impact.
"Although the allocation is not large, it has some effect, especially in managing urgent road repairs," he said, adding that bureaucracy could also be reduced with the district department not having to refer to JKR headquarters to apply for an allocation.
"The cost is also more effective because the price offered must be lower than the concession price," he added.
