Homes for families of armed forces in poor shape due to lack of funds, audit finds

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 15): The National Audit Department said housing facilities for families of Armed Forces personnel (RKAT) are in poor shape due to insufficient financial allocations, inefficient financial management and inconsistent monitoring, the Malay Mail reported yesterday.

“This means the objectives of ensuring conducive RKAT buildings, prolonging their lifespans, reducing damages and guaranteeing the safety of its occupants has not been achieved,” stated the Auditor-General’s Report 2018 Series 1 on the activities of federal ministries, agencies, and statutory bodies.

In its findings, the report highlighted numerous weaknesses, including the inability to fully realise RKAT maintenance blueprints for army headquarters.

The Malay Mail quoted the report saying: “From 2016 to 2018, only 2,447 units or 28% were approved for corrective maintenance, compared to the 8,724 units under planning. From 2015 to 2018, 26,487 complaints were recorded, with 17,014 or 64.2% resolved while the remainder 9,473 or 35.8% could not be addressed.

“Planned preventive repairs for elevators could not be fully carried out, while all 458 units of water pumps which were not planned for maintenance with an additional 55 more units that have been damaged, have not been replaced.”

The report also found RKAT allocations for 2015 to 2018 at RM258.45 million was actually insufficient, compared to the original request of RM1.04 billion for its maintenance.

Other problems faced include late payment of the contractors, unsatisfactory maintenance of water pumps and its surroundings, and non-adherence to electrical laws such as improper fuse shortening.

Both the division and the Army headquarters’ logistics branch made RM2.32 million in procurements for the maintenance of five elevators, and RM1.64 million for 12 RKAT maintenance/repair works, despite not having the authorisation to do so.

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