The contractor of the new school building for SJK (C) Chee Wen in USJ, Selangor said today that work was already in progress.

A spokesperson for S P Setia Construction Sdn Bhd told malaysiakini that contrary to claims by several parents and a local Chinese education lobby group, work on the school started several weeks ago.

"We are now doing the piling work. This started on June 1," said the spokesperson who declined to be named.

Discord threatens to erupt once again between parents and the school's board of governors after the former were said to be unhappy with the work progress.

The Chee Wen issue courted controversy when parents unhappy with the prolonged delay in the construction decided to voice their concerns to the press.

The Chinese primary school was relocated to USJ from Batang Berjuntai in 1999 but despite promises by a local politician to provide a new building by last year, Chee Wen continues to share five classrooms with another Subang Jaya school — SK SS17.

"We were concerned because we were informed that the work order has not been issued to the contractors and a final price for the project has not been set," said Gan Wah Lien, the chairperson of the Working Committee for the Development of Chinese schools in Subang Jaya/USJ.

RM5 million project

Asked about the charges, S P Setia spokesperson denied that the work order was incomplete.

"We received the work order some time ago," said the spokesperson, adding that the price for the project had been set provisionally at over RM5 million.

However, the spokesperson declined to comment when asked if part of the project will be completed on schedule to enable operation by next year.

Among the concerns of the USJ Chinese education lobby group was whether one block of classrooms would be completed by the end of the year to enable enrolment of new students for the school by the next academic year.

Construction works on the remaining two classroom blocks is scheduled to continue next year.

Meanwhile, chairperson of Chee Wen's board and Subang Jaya assemblyperson Lee Hwa Beng confirmed that work had already started on the project.

"There is a lot of negative comments about the project and I suggest [people] visit the site for [themselves]," Lee told malaysiakini.

However, Lee declined to reveal the final cost of the project, saying that the information was privy only to project donors.

The chairperson of the school's parents teachers association, Ng Yam Kong, could not be reached for comment.