Treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah should be sacked from his position as Bandar Malaysia chairperson if he fails to name a new developer for the project, said Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua.
Speaking to reporters in Parliament, Pua pointed out that Syarikat Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd (BMSB) announced last June that eight companies expressed interest in becoming the project’s master developer, but the Finance Ministry has yet to make a decision.
“We call upon the finance minister to give Irwan a new deadline by the end of this month to secure a new master developer to fulfil his promises to the people.
“If the Treasury secretary-general fails once again to deliver, he should be removed from his position as Bandar Malaysia chairperson, and a new, more competent replacement be found,” he said.
Pua (photo), who is also the DAP national publicity secretary, noted that questions posed to the Finance Ministry on the matter since last July have so far gone unanswered, beyond it stating that a decision would be made “soon.”
Aside from expressing interest, Pua also questioned whether any of the eight companies had officially submitted their bids for the project.
“We are worried that the Bandar Malaysia project will suffer the same fate as the Tun Razak Exchange, which eventually had to be bailed out by the Finance Ministry, and we the people have to pay for it.”
The Bandar Malaysia project is being developed on a 194ha land located on the old Sungai Besi Royal Malaysian Air Force base.
The company appointed to be the master developer would hold a 60 percent interest in the project, while the remaining 40 percent would be held by the Malaysian government using 1MDB funds.
The government had previously stated that the project, targeted for completion in 15 to 25 years, would offer up to 220,000 job opportunities.
Construction of the first phase was initially scheduled to start this year and targeted for completion in five to 10 years.
The first phase to be built on 40ha of land will comprise 5,000 units of affordable homes, LRT and MRT connections, as well as the main station for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail project.
In May last year, the Finance Ministry had cancelled the contract to develop Bandar Malaysia awarded in 2015 to Sino-Malaysian joint venture Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) and China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC).
According to the ministry, the consortium failed to meet payment obligations for its RM7.41 billion acquisition of a 60 percent stake in Bandar Malaysia.
The Finance Ministry then opened a request for proposal for the RM12.35 billion project on July 5, and set a deadline on July 20. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.