Nurul raises a stink over ‘RM1b sewage project’

The Lembah Pantai MP claims the project, which is in the final stages of being awarded, is riddled with discrepancies.

PETALING JAYA: The government project to improve the Pantai 2 sewage treatment plant is riddled with discrepancies, said PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar.The cost, which the Lembah Pantai MP estimated to be around RM500 million, had doubled to RM1 billion or a 100% increase above supposed market value.

She also alleged that the contract was awarded via direct negotiations

The government was said to be in the final stages of awarding the job “to a contractor” whom Nurul admitted to have no information about and pressed for answers.

“I am concerned that to my knowledge, there was no open tender exercise ever being called for the upgrading work.

“If the government is at the final stage of awarding the package, it can only mean the project was done on ‘direct negotiation’ basis with the contractor,” she told a press conference here this morning.

The treatment plant was situated within her constituency, a half-posh-half-poor urban parliamentary seat that would likely stage a heated electoral battle in the next national polls.

Meanwhile, Nurul said the independent valuers’ estimated RM1 billion price tag was the “most alarming” factor.

“This is a mockery of the range of transformation programmes bandied about by Barisan Nasional,” she added.

Nurul, the eldest daughter of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, said the minister in charge must answer the allegations immediately. She also urged those with information on the project to come forward.

The project falls under the purview of the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had vowed to improve and administer a more transparent procurement process in a bid to regain Malaysia’s competitive edge.

Bloating bureaucracy and protectionist policies had pushed Malaysia’s competitiveness index down, according to the Institute of Management Development (IMD) 2011 World Competitive Rankings released on May 17.

Najib’s promises to combat these problems, however, had come under fire when various mega projects, including the country’s most expensive infrastructure undertaking to date, the Klang Valley Massive Rapid Transit, had been awarded through direct negotiations.