How much have you paid CRCC, Wee asks Guan Eng

PETALING JAYA: Wee Ka Siong has fired the latest salvo in the war of words between MCA and the DAP-led Penang government on the issue of the Penang tunnel and three main road projects.

The MCA deputy president was responding to comments made by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng at a press conference on how the Penang Tunnel Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is financially strong, and that the China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) remains the main contractor for the project.

“Guan Eng, please instruct the SPV company to reveal how much money has been paid to CRCC since the award of the contract in Nov 2013 and provide documented proof of payments,” Wee asked in a statement.

However, Wee did not mention what aspects of work CRCC should be paid for as the project has not taken off the ground.

Wee had previously questioned CRCC’s role as a shareholder claiming that it was the Penang government which had said CRCC held a stake in the project.

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department cited the state organ, Buletin Mutiara, as having quoted state secretary Farizan Darus as saying the consortium had a paid-up capital of RM4.6 billion, with Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd and CRCC jointly holding a 70% stake.

The infrastructure project came under renewed scrutiny following a fresh probe and arrests by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) last month.

At the press conference, Lim said that the state government had always contended that CRCC was just the main contractor for the project and not a shareholder in the SPV.

Lim was referring to how MCA president Liow Tiong Lai had effectively vindicated the Penang government from allegations of abuse or wrongdoing in a statement on the transport minister’s meeting with CRCC recently.

“Liow had confirmed CRCC as the main contractor for the project. He had also confirmed that CRCC was not a shareholder of the consortium project, but merely the main contractor.

“These were points that had been reiterated by the Penang government all along,” Lim said.

Liow had earlier said he had met “top leaders” of the CRCC during a ministerial meet in Beijing and that CRCC was aware of the “controversy” surrounding the tunnel-roads project.

Liow said he was told that CRCC was never a shareholder of the consortium but merely the main contractor for engineering, procurement and construction of the project, among others.

The 7.2km undersea tunnel will connect George Town’s Pangkor Road on the island and Bagan Ajam in Butterworth on the mainland. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2023.

The “three main roads” stretch from Air Itam to the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway (5.7km), Tanjung Bungah to Teluk Bahang (10.53km), and Jalan Pangkor-Gurney Drive junction to Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway (4.1km). -FMT