Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan

Dato’ Seri Prof Ir Dr. Judin Abdul Karim“Project delivery on timeremains the essence to ourdelivery with quality. One ofthe drastic steps taken is toterminate the contract whichshows poor performance. Thereis no more impunity for nonperformingcontractors”terminate the contract which shows poor performance. There is no more impunityfor non-performing contractors. Escalating cost, high public demand and depletingresources are some of the challenges we now have to face. Resource optimisationand value for money measures are much needed to justify any consideration forproject implementation.We now have to also consider the “whole life cycle cost” in the development ofour projects. Projects, which eventually become assets of the government upontheir completion, not only have to be well conceived during planning, design andconstruction but we also consider all the needs and costs of maintaining andoperating them over their life cycle.Projects can no longer be based solely on the most economical capital costs withlittle attention to the consequential operational and maintenance costs. The designand construction of projects require thoughtful review and consideration of howthey will best function and endure to provide valuable services over many, manyyears. As such their service delivery potential can be maximised and that risk andmaintenance cost are manageable over their entire life.As an example, if we plan to build a road by cutting down hills, we destroy theenvironment and over the long run requiring high cost of maintaining the slopes.Alternatively, if we are to consider building a tunnel through the hill, the initial costwill be higher but the maintenance cost over the entire life is much lower and theenvironment can also be preserved.Thus, considering total costs over the life cycle of the asset at the early stage, frominitial capital, operation and maintenance to disposal, including the cost of deliveringservices using these assets, there will be great opportunity for cost saving in thelong run. This total asset management pproach will result in achieving the bestvalue. This will be the way forward.71