'UMNO cronies' behind delay, ballooning cost of East Coast Highway

The second phase of the East Coast Highway, or LPT2, has not taken off for more than three years due to cronyism in UMNO, charged Batu Buruk state assemblyman Syed Azman Syed Ahmad.

Deputy Works minister Yong Khoon Soon earlier announced that the RM3.7 billion project would only start in August 2014, three years behind scheduled date.

He blamed the delay on contractors who quit due to escalating costs of raw materials between 2007 and 2008.

Syed Azman (pic) however said 10 packages from the highway project had to be retendered.

"The project which started in 2006 had been scheduled for completion at the end of 2010. But with this long delay, the project could only be completed at the end of 2014,” he said, writing in his regular column in Harakahdaily.

Terengganu's Infrastructure and Public Amenities committee chairman Za’abar Mohd Adib had on July 6 said the BN state government had “learnt its lessons” from allocating the mega project to different contractors. He also announced that LPT2, linking Jabor to Kuala Terengganu, would only be ready by mid-2015.

Syed Azman, the PAS deputy secretary general, said due to the delay, the cost of LPT2 now ballooned to over RM5 billion.

“The fact remains that the LPT2 mega project was delayed over 3 years because of problematic crony-contractors," he added.

As such, Syed Azman said officers from the Works department were not solely to blame.

“It is because of interference from cronies and UMNO’s political minions who have ties with the minister and prime minister’s office."

-Harakahdaily