Former environment and water minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man has defended the ministry’s decision to award flood mitigation projects through a direct tender process.
In an immediate response to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who earlier today announced the halting of the projects, Tuan Ibrahim (above) said the premier should know that the direct tender process was aimed at speeding up works in times of emergency.
“As the prime minister, he should not assume that all projects that are awarded through direct tender process as being improper and involve conflict of interests.
“He must understand that there are many emergency works that need to be carried out immediately in order to prevent a worse situation and inflict more losses.
“Thus, some projects had to be given through direct negotiation or direct offer, especially in cases of disasters such as floods, broken reservoirs (or burst dams), landslides, and so on.
“But, I would like to stress here that these projects still have to go through all the necessary financial procedures as required (by the government),” Tuan Ibrahim (above) said in a statement.
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Anwar in a press conference this morning said that he has halted RM7 billion in flood mitigation projects, which he said were approved via direct tender.
Tuan Ibrahim said he believed that Anwar, who is also the finance minister, knew that direct tenders were given for flood mitigation projects that needed to be carried out immediately, and such practices were not wrong.
“Besides the Environment and Water Ministry, all the processes involving financial procedures must go under strict scrutiny and must be done according to all the procedures and guidelines set by the Finance Ministry,” he added. - Mkini
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