Terengganu PKR chairperson Azan Ismail has called on former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak to provide further clarification on the East Coast Rail Link(ECRL) project including its ticket prices and methods to settle its construction debt.
Azan told Malaysiakini the rakyat had the right to know about the project, which begun during Najib’s administration.
“Najib is well informed, he is an expert on everything. From distributing (the country’s economic) cake to the rakyat, to saving Sapura Energy without involving a single sen of public funds.
“So as a Terengganu citizen, I want to know the cost of the ECRL, including its fares and how the government intends to settle its debt.
“Don’t ask Petronas to eventually bail out the ECRL,” he said.
Azan was referring to Najib’s argument during a debate with opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim last Thursday, in which he claimed Sapura Energy Bhd (SEB) could be saved through an acquisition by Petronas, and would not involve the rakyat’s money.
Anwar refuted this argument, by pointing out that Petronas indeed belongs to Malaysians.
The 665km rail line is estimated to cost RM50.27 billion and will have stations in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Selangor.
‘People have right to know’
Referring to the debate, Azan said he was very interested in the mega projects proposed by Najib that will allegedly help the rakyat.
“In fact, he also gave a new explanation to the term ‘cash is king’, with ‘king’ referring to the rakyat.
“If so, then the people have the right to know the total amount of this ECRL project,” he added.
Najib had said that the “king” in “cash is king” is the public and that the best way to help the people is via direct cash transfers for them to spend as they wish.
Earlier this month, Azan had questioned the high cost of the ECRL project, noting that there were concerns tickets could be expensive due to the costly construction, which is expected to climb further due to the weakening ringgit.
Najib however denied this, saying the ECRL was not crazy enough to charge passengers fare prices more than a flight ticket to the same destination.
Though the construction cost may be expensive, he said the tickets will be a reasonable price as the ECRL does not rely on the passengers’ ticket fares as their only source of revenue.
Another revenue source for ECRL would be transport-oriented development projects along the ECRL railway, he added. - Mkini
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