KUALA LUMPUR, 15 Feb – The latest addition to the series of last minute contract handouts by the Barisan Nasional government prior to the 13th General Election has irked many, further giving credence to the ‘open secret’ that the Prime Minister, Najib Razak is indeed postponing the polling date out of fear of losing power to Pakatan Rakyat.
The recent lucrative privatizations and procurements awarded to ‘favoured parties’ seemed to be hastily done while Najib keeps on delaying the polls. DAP National Publicity Secretary, Tony Pua said this revealed attempts by the current BN-led government to take a firm grip on any incoming government post GE-13, forcibly tying any future governance to a commitment with these eleventh hour contracts.
Pua highlighted the latest decision by the Prime Minister’s Department to award the new East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) concession — deemed as a ‘privatisation contract’ — to Gombak-based Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd (AZRB). The contract was awarded direct negotiation on 6 February, something Pua has remarked as coming ‘with little surprise’.
Pua has called the RM1.55 billion deal into question, as AZRB is to build the 35.5km highway with a government soft loan worth RM635 million despite the concession period of 50 years — described by Pua as ‘the second longest concession awarded in Malaysia’s history’.
“The obvious question is, if the government is already able to fork out nearly half of the required investment to build the highway, why is there a need to privatise it in the first place?” Pua said, in a statement released on 15 February.
“Is it so that certain companies can bleed the rakyat for multi-billion ringgit profits in the future?”
What’s the rush, BN?
Pua, who is also the Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara, however pointed out the ‘greater concern’ in this latest contract-giving saga — the urgency of the rate the deals are being ‘dished out’ by the Prime Minister’s Department itself.
“Firstly, there is a never seen before urgency to award large contracts before the general elections, clearly out of fear that there is a real likelihood that Barisan Nasional will lose power, hence the ‘Sapu Malaysia’ (Sweep Malaysia) mentality,” he pointed out, coining a wordplay at Najib Razak’s government oft-repeated propaganda slogan, 1Malaysia.
“Secondly, in dishing out these lucrative contracts, it is certain that BN is also desperately raising funds from their cronies in return, to fight their ‘life and death’ mother-of-all-elections to ensure its survival,” Pua continued.
The persistent DAP parliamentarian further cited the example of the finalisation of the RM5.2 billion West Coast Expressway (WCE) last month, allowing its concessionaire, Kumpulan Europlus Berhad to collect profits for a period of 60 years — all of this, Pua said, despite the the government provision of RM2.24 billion in soft loan to the company, in addition to a land acquisition cost also borne by taxpayer’s funds, worth RM980 million.
According to Pua, another highway project worth RM2.2 billion, the Kinrara Damansara Expressway (KIDEX) has also been awarded to UMNO-linked companies earlier last year, this time involving UMNO lawyer Hafarizam Harun and the recently retired Chief Judge Zaki Azmi, who also once chaired UMNO Disciplinary Committee.
Pua also reiterated facts on the deals surrounding the construction of the 51km Sungai Buloh – Kajang line of the massive RM35 billion Klang Valley MRT project, overseen by the MRT Corp, a government linked company set up for the purpose of implementing Malaysia’s first ‘integrated and sustainable mass rapid transit railway’.
“MRT Corp which oversees Malaysia’s largest infrastructure project in history, announced in November last year that RM19.8 billion of contract works have been awarded, with 45% or RM8.82 billion going to Bumiputera companies,” he said.
Pua added that another RM322 million worth of tenders for the MRT project have been handed out, shortly before the long weekend break for the Chinese New Year celebrations earlier in February.
Adding to the projects involving companies receiving preferential treatments from the government, Pua mentioned the RM1.2 billion tender bid of the Ampang Line expansion contract — part of the on-going RM7 billion LRT Line Expansion Project (LEP) — which was controversially interrupted by Najib in order to have it awarded to George Kent Berhad, allegedly a water meter manufacturer.
According to a report by The Malaysian Insider, George Kent stated it the company’s annual report that ‘it was looking to expand into rail and green technology sectors in line with the Najib administration’s Economic Transformation Programme’.
“Despite having no experience in the rail industry, the local company with known links to the prime minister beat other experienced global players, including Balfour Beatty which submitted its tender at a significantly lower price,” Pua argued.
Pua continued to note that Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad (Prasarana) — owning the assets of the expansive LRT LEP — later awarded a contract worth another RM1.33 billion to property and infrastructure developer, MRCB for other works in completing the planned 17.7km extension of the LRT line, merely a month after the earlier agreement of similar amount was inked between Prasarana and George Kent Bhd.
Pua later stressed that the aforementioned contracts and privatization agreements, inked by the ruling federal government in the last twelve months alone, are ‘just a shortlist’.
Adamant that change is on its way this general election, Pua said, “The possibility of a new Pakatan Rakyat federal government is very real.”
“However, we will have to first overcome the dirtiest of all elections as BN will spare no expenses to ‘buy’ victory in the polls with the massive war chest it would have raised,” said Pua.
Now in his final weeks of his term, Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to announce the date of the 13th General Election anytime this month, while facing a struggle to balance his party’s shakiest ever performance with the rising level of dissatisfaction by many Malaysians towards BN-UMNO’s half a century long rule. – The Rocket
