Prasarana Malaysia Berhad chairperson Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, who is in a tussle with MRCB-George Kent, the turnkey contractor of the LRT3 project, said they should follow national policies by supporting bumiputera firms.
He added that a "topmost" Prasarana officer was of the view that the project owner should not interfere in MRCB-George Kent's choice of subcontractors, but Tajuddin said he disagreed.
He also disagreed with the term "interference", stating that Prasarana was "being in the know" (ambil tahu) and it was the project owner's right to do so.
"We need to support the government's policy and give priority to local contractors.
"One more thing, we should also support the government's policy by encouraging the participation of bumiputera contractors.
"As project owner - at least for me, I don't know about past chairpersons who may not care about this - but I care. The participation of bumiputera contractors is important to me. It is a policy which we need to support," he said.
Tajuddin revealed that a "topmost" Prasarana official had opposed to the approach but did not name him.
Earlier, Tajuddin confirmed that Prasarana president and chief executive officer Muhammad Nizam Alias had been suspended for "insubordination".
"We are taking the initiative to be in the know, but there is a topmost officer whose name I don't want to mention - you can guess - who said that since they (MRCB-George Kent) have been appointed as the turnkey contractor, we should not interfere in what they are doing.
"They can do as they wish. For me, that is not right. As the project owner, we need to be in the know. Being in the know is not interference.
"It is not being a busybody, it is our right," he said.
RM700m payments held back
On Dec 31, MRCB-George Kent, along with 16 of its subcontractors, complained to the government that Prasarana was withholding RM700 million in payments for their work done on the LRT3 project.
Sources told Malaysiakini that Tajuddin had wanted certain subcontractors to be appointed for the project.
Addressing the LRT3 contractor's claim that he was withholding RM700 million in payment to them, he said: "For your information, we have paid MRCB-George Kent a sum of RM3.468 billion."
He insisted that the last payment was made to MRCB-George Kent in October last year for work done until the end of the month, contrary to reports quoting sources who claimed the outstanding payment comprised work completed from July onwards.
"Where is the delay (in payment) of up to six months?
"They said we withheld payments, that is not fair. They (MRCB-George Kent) are a big contractor," he said.
Tajuddin, however, declined to confirm or deny reported claims that the October payment said to amount to RM280 million was only for work done between February and June.
Given MRCB-George Kent's status as the project's turnkey contractor, Tajuddin said Prasarana had an expectation that the company would have enough funds to pay its subcontractors.
"They don't have the money and they asked all their contractors to complain.
"They should have had enough capital," said Tajuddin who was initially reluctant to speak on MRCB-George Kent's finances.
"But when the game is played in such a way as if we are doing unfair things to them, I want to tell you we have paid," he said.
Tajuddin also claimed he had received complaints about MRCB-George Kent's alleged delays in signing new agreements with the subcontractors after its appointment as the turnkey contractor.
He further claimed that some of the new agreements were signed at a value lower than what was previously agreed upon with Prasarana.
Operating on a shortfall
On Prasarana's current finances, Tajuddin revealed that the company is operating on a shortfall of RM236 million a month, an amount covered by its current available funds of approximately RM2 billion.
After taking into account Prasarana's monthly operating and capital expenditures, Tajuddin said the company is left with slightly over RM800 million while waiting for a capital injection of around RM1.5 billion from the government which was recently approved in Parliament.
"(We are) left with RM844 million... that is what we have now.
"If we pay MRCB-George Kent everything (we have), we are done for (habislah). Where is the money to run the show?" he added.
Overall, Tajuddin insisted he had merely advised Prasarana's management and board based on his observations of the situation.
The LRT3 project started in August 2015 with an initial budget of RM10 billion to serve some 2 million people along the Bandar Utama-Johan Setia route but the costs tripled to a whopping RM31.65 billion.
It was among several mega infrastructure projects reviewed by the federal government after Pakatan Harapan came into power in May 2018. - Mkini
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