SEREMBAN: The Government might slap a penalty against the main contractor whose negligence caused damage at the newly completed RTM RM38mil-complex near here. 

A leak at the air-condition vent caused flooding at the ground floor of the building. The complex was opened on Aug 1. 

Information Ministry secretary-general Datuk Kamarudin Siaraf said the contractor's lackadaisical attitude towards maintenance had affected the ministry's image. 

"I will seek legal opinion (on the penalty)," he said after visiting the RTM complex in Sg Gadut near here. 

Kamarudin said that preliminary investigations revealed that the main contractor did not carry out maintenance work as scheduled

"Since the defect liability period is until January 2009, the contractor or consultant will have to bear the cost of repairs," he pointed out, adding that the ministry had paid RM35mil of the total cost so far.  

Besides the air-conditioning system, the defects involve certain stretches of the road, drainage system, toilets and windows, according to him.  

Kamarudin, who assumed his present post earlier this month, said that he had pointed out these defects to the contractor when he was the State Secretary for Negri Sembilan.  

From now on, he said, an officer would be assigned to accompany the contractor whenever maintenance work was carried out.