`


THERE IS NO GOD EXCEPT ALLAH
read:
MALAYSIA Tanah Tumpah Darahku

LOVE MALAYSIA!!!


 


Sunday, December 12, 2010

In Malaysia where things keep falling apart like the Malacca monorail


Er ... it turned out to be false information from Najib, Rustam
Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle

Remember the grand celebrations in Malacca that were held at the auspicious hour - 2010 hours on the 20 October 2010? It was the day when the historical state was officially declared “a developed state”, after ten years of hard work.

Fireworks were set off, a public holiday was declared and Chief Minister, Mohd Ali Rustam, said it was a truly proud day.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak made the official declaration via tele-conferencing from Kuala Lumpur to thousands of Malac­cans gathered in Stadium Hang Jebat in Krubong. Najib told Ali that the Federal Government would give full support to Malacca.

“The people of Malacca should be proud that they have a hard-working and visionary leader,” he added.

Two weeks later, the bombshell dropped. Jon Hall, the representative of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) clarified that, “The OECD did not endorse the Malaccan declaration, mainly because we are not is a position to do so.”

Apparently Malacca had not been accorded ‘developed status’ by the OECD.

The Malaccans were misinformed because of the vanity and impatience of both Najib and Ali.

Ali Rustam had at that time, also launched Malacca’s RM15.9mil monorail, and celebrated it with an inaugural ride.

The 24-passenger monorail alongside the Malacca Rriver, connects Taman Rempah in Pengkalan Rama to Kampung Bunga Raya Pantai in the heart of the historic city. It is 1.6 km long and is part of the state’s aim to tap the potential of the river as a tourist attraction.

Barely two months after its grand launch, the city’s ambitious monorail project has itself been derailed. Or rather, the monorail project has stopped dead in its tracks.

The monorail project is a joint venture between the Malacca Historic City Council, state subsidiary Kumpulan Melaka Bhd and Agibs Engineering & Construction Sdn Bhd. The Tourism Ministry approved an additional RM13.2mil for the monorail phase two extension project under the 10th Malaysia Plan.

It appears that the monorail has been plagued by “several technical and mechanical problems”. Hours after its high profile launch, the ‘Made in China’ monorail ground to a halt. A coach with 20 passengers stalled about 100m from the Hang Jebat station. Stranded passengers had to be rescued with a skylift.

Then in the month after its launch, the monorail only worked intermittently before more problems developed with its wheels and software system.

The chief executive officer Nazry Ahmad of the monorail operator, Menara Taming Sari Sdn Bhd said, “We have been facing problems with the monorail on and off since it was launched. It is now closed to the public”.

It appears that for the past month, the monorail was lying idle whilst four engineers from China were trying to sort out the problems.

So much for Malacca’s developed status.

Ali said that if the monorail continued to face problems, the state government would not buy additional monorails from China for the proposed extension project and would, instead, source them from Europe.

But that is nothing new. It is what Malaysian politicians do best.

Their desire to bask in the limelight means that they act in haste and repent at leisure. Rarely is a job done once and done well. Botched jobs cost the taxpayer more money. If the deal was less than transparent, corners will have been cut and money spent on inferior construction materials.

So what is the point of a ‘developed status’ where things fall apart?

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.