The carpark near the Health and Higher Education ministries in Precinct 1 of Putrajaya, which is the only known point on a map for the Puspahanas project.
The National Defence Education Centre or Puspahanas project ground breaking was done on November 21, 2008 but the exact location of the building is a mystery, with the only known point on a map shown to be a carpark near the Health and Higher Education ministries in Precinct 1 of Putrajaya.
The unfinished Puspahanas is akin to an earlier scandal that engulfed Raja Ropiaah’s Wanita Umno chief, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, when her family was accused of using a RM250 million government soft loan for personal investment instead of the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) project.
There are no street signages in Putrajaya for the project, which her development company Awan Megah Sdn Bhd agreed to build in 2005 in exchange for some 80 hectares of land in Bukit Raja, Selangor and RM27 million.
The other mystery is how BHB could buy the Bukit Raja land as the government had stipulated the land couldn’t be sold by Awan Megah, which had earlier worked out a complicated deal with carpet dealer Deepak Jaikishan to finance the Puspahanas construction.
The controversial businessman had taken Raja Ropiaah to court when the deal fell through and she instead went into a joint-venture development with a plasticware maker.
His revelations before the civil suit, which was heard at the same time as the last Umno annual general assembly, later led to a settlement where his company, Astacanggih Sdn Bhd had its 80 per cent majority stake sold to a BHB unit for RM30 million.
Astacanggih has also proposed to buy Raja Ropiaah’s land for RM130 million, although the deal could not be secured earlier due to restrictions from the government, which had yet to receive the Puspahanas facility.
BHB yesterday cited expanding its landbank as the reason to buy into Astacanggih, adding today it was purely a commercial decision.
In a filing to Bursa Malaysia, BHB said economies of scale can be achieved by combining the land with the adjacent 283.28ha land held under Jendela Hikmat Sdn Bhd, which the Boustead Group and Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) jointly hold a 60 per cent equity interest.
Based on its experience, BHB said it is confident the acquisition of the development land will be able to generate a return on development cost of 25 per cent from the RM160 million investment.
An artist’s impression of the Puspahanas project.
Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latif Ahmad declined to comment yesterday on the project, saying he did not have any information about the project that was first mooted in 1971.
At the groundbreaking ceremony in 2008, then Prime Minister and Defence Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi said it would also serve as catalyst for defence relations and cooperation among countries in the region and internationally in line with the government’s commitment to preserving regional and international peace.
“Realising this need, Puspahanas was conceived with the aim of providing ultra-modern and quality training facilities for ATM officers in military matters and national defence,” he said at the groundbreaking ceremony of the project in Precinct 1 here as reported by state news agency Bernama.
The project was to be completed in 2011 and also was to house the National Defence College (MPN) and the ATM’s Command and Staff Training College (MPTAT).
Earlier in 2006, then DAP national deputy chairman and Kepong MP Dr Tan Seng Giaw had urged the government to implement the project at its original site in Templer’s Park.
“Let us not simply relocate the project from near the Templer Park, Rawang, to Putrajaya. Doing so will mean cancelling the agreement and terrible implications,” he said in a statement then.
From 1972 to 1985, the government had proceeded with the land acquisitions. In 1980, the Armed Forces Conference approved the project. In 1993, the Armed Forces Defence College Board decided to privatise it. In 1996, the Defence Ministry applied to the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department for the privatisation.
Dr Tan noted that in 1997, the Cabinet approved on principle the privatisation of the Puspahanas project to Awan Megah in return for the 223 acres of government land in Bukit Raja to be transferred to the company for commercial development.
In August 1997, then Armed Forces Chief, Jeneral Tan Sri Ismail Omar, said the Puspahanas construction work would begin at the end of 1997 and was expected to be completed in 2002.
However, there had been no development on the project subsequently. The Puspahanas project was originally meant for implementation under the Fifth Malaysia Plan and later postponed to the Seventh Malaysia Plan due to several problems.
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