DM-LTAT claims transport minister asked to 'subcontract' KVDT2 to 'China company'

PARLIAMENT | The Klang Valley Double Tracking 2 (KVDT2) project's original contractor had revealed an alleged request from Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong for the company to subcontract the entire project to a China company.

Anthony Loke (Pakatan Harapan-Seremban) said Dhaya Maju-LTAT Sdn Bhd's CEO Mohamed Razeek Mohd Hussain Maricar had revealed the alleged request from Wee as part of a supporting affidavit filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Oct 27.

Quoting from court documents, Loke, the former transport minister, said, "On or about April 14, 2020, the plaintiff (DM-LTAT) had a meeting with the second defendant (Wee)."

"In this meeting, the plaintiff was asked to subcontract the whole project to a 'China company'.

"After the plaintiff declined to do so, the meeting ended," said Loke who cited Mohamed Razeek's statement made in support of DM-LTAT's application for an injunction against the government's decision to terminate its contract and re-tender the railway tracks restoration project.

"This is a very serious allegation against the transport minister. It is not a poison pen letter, not allegations through WhatsApp, but a sworn affidavit filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

"Is it true the company's contract was terminated because it did not fulfil the request by the transport minister?" asked Loke when debating the Supply Bill 2020 in the House today.

DM-LTAT in its court application had named the government of Malaysia as the first defendant, followed by Wee, Opus Consultants (M) Sdn Bhd and Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd.

Malaysiakini has contacted Wee for a response.

Had the same allegation been made against any DAP minister or during his own tenure in office, Loke noted they would have been branded as selling the country's assets to China at the expense of bumiputera contractors.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Takiyuddin Hassan previously said the cabinet had on Nov 6 agreed for the Transport Ministry to seek an out-of-court settlement with DM-LTAT over three separate civil actions, including the injunction application.

DM-LTAT had in September filed a lawsuit to prevent the Perikatan Nasional government from terminating its contract after previously stressing that there was no basis for the move.

Aside from the court affidavit, Loke today said the contract's termination would lead to job losses among 8,512 workers as well as affect the operations of 261 suppliers and sub-contractors, mostly comprising bumiputera companies.

"Where are the voices of the Malay-bumiputera fighters in the current government that are not seen to fight for the plight of these hundreds of bumiputera companies?" he said.

The original KVDT2 project spans 110km, involving two KTM railway tracks – one from Salak South to Seremban and the other from a point between Kuala Lumpur Sentral and Angkasapuri to Port Klang.

The BN-era project was halted and renegotiated via direct tender with DM-LTAT during Harapan's time, at a lower cost and a shorter completion time of five years for more than double the scope of work covering 265km of railway tracks.

Wee on Aug 28, however, announced that the government would reopen bidding for the KVDT2 project based on results of an extensive study which found that the cost of the renegotiated project during Harapan's time was still overpriced.

Wee reportedly said the Harapan government had on July 5, 2019, decided to continue the project with DM-LTAT at a 15 percent reduced cost from RM5.265 billion to RM4.475 billion or a reduction of RM789.75 million.

However, he said Harapan's decision purportedly did not take into account findings of a Transport Ministry-commissioned Professional Review Report done in October 2018, which concluded that the project actually costs only RM3.398 billion based on DM-LTAT's original scope of work. - Mkini