Disgruntled ex-contractors in Shah Alam issuing threats to new ones

Tuesday, 10 January 2012 10:10

UNHAPPY contractors in Shah Alam whose contracts have been extended for only two months from December last year are threatening to harm those who replaced them.

They are also refusing to collect garbage unless their contracts are extended to a year.

The situation has became a thorny issue for the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) as garbage has not been collected for more than a week now.

It was learnt that Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim had sent a text message to Shah Alam mayor Datuk Mohd Jaafar Mohd Atan on the state’s decision to retain

the contractors formerly engaged by Alam Flora for two months.

Last month when Mohd Jaafar called for a meeting with the contractors only 26 of the 71 were willing to continue for two months.

“Initially 28 came but two pulled out at the eleventh hour,” said Mohd Jaafar.

The unhappy contractors had resorted to aggressive behavior to scare away the new ones.

There have been at least four police reports lodged on the threats made by the former Alam Flora contractors in Section 17, 7 and 9.

The rowdy contractors had prevented new ones from entering the neighbourhood.

Mohd Jaafar said the council was finding it tough to handle the situation as the new contractors were rattled by the intimidating tactics.

“They must understand that it is not MBSA that decided on offering them the short contract as I was just executing the directive I received from my boss,” he said.

He added that the council was left with little choice and had look for new contractors to fill the remaining 45 spots left vacant by the dissatisfied ones.

“The council only had less than a week to fix the problem,” he said.

Hebat Abadi Sdn Bhd, which a subsidiary of state-owned Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad (KDEB), would be filling the 39 spots while four others would come from MBSA’s back-up cleaning services.

On Friday, MBSA advertised in several local dailies calling contractors to apply for the 50 rubbish collection contracts, which would take effect from March.

Mohd Jaafar said contractors who had a clean track record and excellent performance for the first three years would be extended for another two years based on the new system introduced by the state government.

From The Star