SRI AMAN (Sarawak): Putrajaya will take stern action against those who cause delays in infrastructure projects in Sarawak, particularly those meant for the well-being of the people.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said he will meet Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg soon to discuss all delayed and struggling infrastructure projects in the state.

Upon learning that the Sri Aman Hospital project here has been delayed by 218 days, Dr Ahmad Zahid said contractors, consultants and government officers who caused delays would be taken to task.

“I will sit down with the chief minister and bring along all the relevant Federal ministers and government officers to look at these projects one by one,” he said during the Ramah-Tamah Aidilfitri with the Home Ministry here yesterday.

“I deliberately made a surprise visit to the delayed Sri Aman Hospital project on my way here,” he said.

“Although I am not involved directly with the project, as a leader of the Barisan Nasional Government, I can help to expedite it.

“The people are in need of a hospital.”

When Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak laid the foundation stone for the 108-bed, RM150mil Sri Aman Hospital project in February 2015, he said the project was expected to be ready by October 2018 as long as there were no problems with the contractors.

On a separate issue, Dr Ahmad Zahid said encroachment of foreign fishing trawlers in the country’s waters was among the matters discussed when his Vietnamese counterpart Truong Hoa Binh paid him a courtesy call on Wednesday.

He said both countries have been lenient with fishermen caught encroaching on each other’s waters, by just having the offenders repatriated.

Dr Ahmad Zahid said Malaysia can no longer be satisfied with this arrangement because the number of Vietnamese fishing trawlers found in Malaysian waters far outstrips the Malaysian vessels caught in Vietnamese waters.

“We have to be stern because foreign fishing trawlers are robbing the nation of its sea resources,” he said.

At the Hari Raya event, Dr Ahmad Zahid presented RM10,000 grants to four community associations and duit raya to underprivileged children. Identification documents were also handed over to 11 recipients.

Some 5,000 guests attended the event including his deputy ministers Datuk Masir Kujat and Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed as well as Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.