Rakyat deserve full info on the mega-projects

Why two railway lines going south? Will ECRL be a white elephant? We need to know before we vote.

FMT LETTERS

From: Rosli Khan

Najib Razak, our prime minister, has to open up and share with us a lot more information on the many mega-projects that he has planned for the country.

The main questions remain: Will Malaysians benefit from his projects? Or is it a case of public spending that would result in the outflow of funds from the country’s economic cycle? Why only foreigners seem to benefit? What’s there for us, local Malaysians?

Many of us would like to believe that all of these massive transport infrastructure projects such as the High Speed Rail between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, East Coast Rail Link and Gemas-JB double tracking project, are meant to improve connectivity, increase the capacity of transport and logistics services and shorten journey times.

The expansion of these projects would drive our economy forward and would make Malaysia more efficient and possibly more competitive.

These projects had better be good and function properly, otherwise he would be blamed.

How true is it that ECRL, for instance, has the potential to be a white elephant upon its completion? RM55 billion is a colossal amount, and a massive borrowing, for a piece of infrastructure to serve only about 4.5 million people in Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang.

Will there be a rapid population increase in these three states soon? Or is demand for travel growing so rapidly that other modes of transport can no longer cope? Has the new East Coast highway reached its capacity?

Why is the rail line only single track? Could a single track be of any real use for travel over 600 km, where speed is the key criterion? At present, a direct flight from Subang or KLIA takes only between 50-65 minutes to Kota Bahru or Kuala Terengganu at a fraction of the cost of the proposed rail tickets.

Given current demand and travel characteristics, RM55 billion is way over the top for a venture that possibly cannot be justified economically and financially.

To convince the public that the projects are worthy of the massive spending there must be documents that can withstand any form of criticism. The rakyat have every right to know how their money is being spent and how they stand to benefit.

In short, the government must practice what it preaches especially if it is under a cloud of negative perception. A lot more documents need to be revealed rather than just a feasibility study report.

The economic benefits, measured and shown clearly, may include what payments have been made to Malaysian land owners whose lands have been acquired for the project and to the various local consultants such as land surveyors, town planners, civil & structural engineers, soil engineers, design engineers & architects, mechanical & electrical engineers, traffic planners, systems engineers, lawyers and many others.

Next in line will be local contractors or specialist construction companies, equipment and materials suppliers and a host of other smaller contractors.

Public expenditure becomes worthless if only foreigners benefit but not locals.

The number of local people employed and their total salaries and wages is another important indicator that should be shown clearly. If such a figure is dismal then a government planner has a lot to answer for.

It appears that we continue to receive more foreign workers to work on projects which we ourselves fund and pay for.

We are also spending a huge sum on double tracking the KTMB rail system and electrification of these lines.

Do we know who are the recipients of the massive contract for the Gemas-JB double tracking project?

Why can’t the government be more transparent and share with us the names of the companies; who owns them and how much will they be making from the public purse? There are a lot questions which demand immediate answers from the government. Again, a sum of RM8 billion is a lot of money; how the public would benefit from such a massive expenditure is a question that demands an immediate answer.

Certainly, there are queries about why the KL-JB corridor should have two railway lines, the double-track KTMB line and the proposed high speed KL-Singapore railway. Do we really need two different railway lines running parallel with each other? Please share with us the details.

The existing KTMB alignment could be straightened and re-aligned, with spur lines to serve new areas, allowing higher speeds to be attained. Has this option been considered and evaluated?

Have the planners considered extending the ERL line from KLIA to go further south? That would be another feasible and cheaper option, if the intention is to serve new areas such as Melaka, Batu Pahat and beyond.

Could it be that the government forecasts of a population boom along this corridor is higher than expected? Will there be more projects at locations and stations along the route? We are not sure. At this moment, we can only speculate.

Maybe the government could share with us the contents of the feasibility studies reports, letters of award, contract documents and agreements, if such documents exist.

Sharing is caring. We need to know before we go to vote on May 9.

Rosli Khan is an FMT reader.