Gamuda-MMC has received an early ‘durian runtuh’ with the government reportedly granting preliminary approval for the consortium to manage a RM36 billion mass rapid transit (MRT) project for the Klang Valley.
See a report by Reuters here.
Because of the large amount of public money at stake, the government must tell us exactly how the tender process for the consortium’s reportedly ‘unsolicited proposal’ was carried out. Is it true that there was only one contractor with whom the government negotiated? That in itself is disturbing.
The actual project is expected to cost RM36 billion. Add land acquisition and rolling stock cost and the tab reportedly could come up to a jaw-dropping RM43 billion. (What about possible cost overruns?) That makes it the largest construction job under the Tenth Malaysia Plan.
Examine carefully the major shareholders of Gamuda Bhd as at 15 October 2009:
- Employees Provident Fund Board 10.09% (direct interest)
- Raja Dato’ Seri Eleena binti Raja Azlan Shah 7.43% (mostly deemed indirect interest through Generasi Setia)
- Generasi Setia (M) Sdn Bhd 7.42% (direct interest)
- Platinum Investment Management Limited 6.48% (direct interest)
- HSBC Holdings plc 5.37% (indirect interest) (who is behind this?)
The substantial shareholders of MMC Corp (which is the flagship company of Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary) as at 25 February 2010 are:
- Amanahraya Trustees Berhad (Skim Amanah Saham Bumiputera) 18.43% (direct)
- Employees Provident Fund Board 8.11% (direct)
- Seaport Terminal (Johore) Sdn Bhd 51.76% (direct)
- Indra Cita Sdn Bhd 51.76% (indirect – deemed interest through Seaport Terminal)
- Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Syed Mokhtar Shah bin Syed Nor 51.76% (indirect – deemed interest through Indra City)
“He (Syed Mokthar) surfaced during the premiership of (Mahathir) and created waves, stayed through (Badawi’s) term, albeit with less fanfare, and now he appears to be an important corporate figure in Najib’s tenure,” an Edge report recently quoted an unnamed Umno politician as saying.
Syed Mokthar’s Tradewinds recently gained control of Bernas, which has a monopoly of rice distribution in the country, the weekly noted.
In 2007, Gamuda and MMC were awarded the northern portion of the rail double-tracking job for RM12.5 billion.
In April, DRB-Hicom, whose controlling shareholder is Syed Mokthar, reportedly received a letter of intent from the government to manufacture and deliver a dozen variants of the Malaysian AV-8 armoured wheeled vehicle.
And lately, Syed Mokthar’s name has been mentioned in a report about the privatisation of Penang Port Sdn Bhd.
The other disturbing thing is, why has preliminary approval for the MRT been given when the national public transport policy is not yet ready?
The Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) has just been formed. And one of its first tasks is to come up with an integrated national public transport policy, followed by regional public transport policies. Spad is now working on the national policy in parallel with the regional policy for the Greater KL/Klang Valley area.
But before that can see the light of day, we now hear that that Gamuda-MMC has received preliminary approval for the MRT. What’s going on?
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I have tried to run numbers for this project and there is no way the ridership numbers and reasonable price for riding the MRT can be made. The most optimistic is a reasonable ridership at at very high price which is an oxymoron. The numbers just don’t add up. I don’t care for the tender honestly, the project don’t work unless the govt just swallow at least half the cost.
The Singapore government wrote off all major infrastructural debts of their MRT before it was handed over to the present operator for commercial operation.
In the end, the same will happen to our MRT in the Klang valley as no country on earth could today build an MRT system and profit from it.
This basically means taxpayers will eventually have to foot the bill.
I wonder why Najib is not openly honest about this.
Good on you feds ,Spend big on mainland ,Purse runs dry as far as Penang is concerned. What about a LRT to Airport
Ric Francis still reading
S’pore MRT definitely repaid all its government loans, and financed the latest expansion on its own.
Please ignore the propaganda financed by the Malaysian petroleum, highway and car industries.
Oh my gosh…who said so ? Even PAP would not put out such outrageus spin…you must be an uber DAP Cyber trooper ! Singapore govt has spent tens of billions of SGD on their MRT/LRT systems. There is no operator in the world could repay such large amount even over a 100 years. In Singapore, as with almost anything, the fares are highly regulated so there’s no way any transport operator could charge enough to recoup investment on infra. In any case, the stated govt policy is to fund the infra and then hand over the network to operators. If… Read more »
Anil This is the problem when you guys don’t read the news and rely on the alternative media. If you read Mkini, MInsider etc they are not intrested in truth or presenting news but in shaping public opinion to support Pakatan and hate BN. Very little objectivity and nuetrality are involved. Anil, as a nuetral NGO, I expected yourself to be more well versed in such matters rather than rehash the nonsense that Mkini and the rest of the PR propaganda machine churns out. FYI, MMC-Gamuda are project managers and NOT turnkey contractors for this project. This means they will… Read more »
Yes, and the tunnelling work is the major chunk of the project. RM14 billion right? And who will that go to?
And what exactly does a project manager do?
Spad, the Land Public Transport Commission, is supposed to be the supervisor…
So they will supervise Gamuda-MMC?
Anil Don’t forget that the tunnelling work will also be an open tender. As such Gamuda will have to bid for it just like the others. In this aspect they are the only local company with experience so I guess the others probably be foreign firms with JV with some local ones. With that kind of substantial project, I bet every major construction company in the world would bid. And please do not look down on Gamuda just because they are a local company. In my view Gamuda has a very good chance of winning the job as their work… Read more »
They now use the name MRT instead of LRT to imply efficiency as in S’pore. FYI, the S’pore MRT is totally self-financing body. Also, what happens to the LRTs?
Hello “Semuanya OK kot”, please refrain from talking nonsense if you don’t know the subject. There is a clear different between MRT and LRT, ie, based on carrying capacity. FYI Singapore has both MRT and LRT and this is not a name that Singapore came up with but generic industry standard names. The new MRT system proposed for Malaysia will have much larger carrying capacity than the current LRT system. That’s why it is known as MRT and not LRT as it is known today. The current KJ and Ampang lines are still LRT as their carrying capacity are limited.… Read more »
GREED.
We all like LRT. Believe LRT is the only solution. The more expensive the better. Call it economy stimulus. The first stage cost only RM3 billion. Now it is RM36billion with anticipated cost overrun. Ask the politicians to build transit stations, can’t afford to buy or acquire lands. Build LRT no problem at all. Want the bus to emulate LRT but no transit station provided, then blame bus transit as inefficient. That is the best we the Bolehlander can do. Corruption, mismanagement, abuse of public money are the rules of the game. Be it BN or Pakatan no different. Don’t… Read more »
Transport policy is set by Gamuda. Ha ha, bankrupt Government in all respect!
payback time in big way. For Gamuda, who is the biggest beneficiary? Perakians?…
goodness, my children will carry the debt burden so that the UMNO and its cronies can have their huge mansions overseas.
Jibby needs funding for GE 13(?)….
Vote UMNO, and sell off your future.
MCA, MIC and other poraties insabah sarawak why dont raise issue, especially mca. this wil stop non malys from voting mca, mic??.
should be more than 2 to reflect 1 malaysia, where is chinese, indian participation??
Looks like a big reward…
That’s why those cronies are rich enough to marry local celebrities … or Lebanese chicks…
Its obvious the BN is preparing for the worst in the next GE by doing a scorched policy of ripping the nation’s finances dry so that in the event the PR govt comes in …it will see empty coffers and may not be able to sustain governance….
As for (certain groups)…they are not bothered…for since the time of Malacca…they have been living off other people’s hard work and taxes…
Malaysia (may) be bankrupted and the IMF must move in …EARLY….
You want this country back….you have get it back from the outside…
somebody has to build this….who better than cronies…..
political parties and politicians need funds….how better to obtain than through billion ringgit projects….
at least the public is sure of completion and an MRT available sooner than later….
what 5 or 10 biliion ringgit….
I would urge all malays to wake up to the fact theat NEP has only benefited the umno cronies while the poor malays have been fooled into voting for BN all this while.
very true Sazali. In fact as Malay legend and my former mentor Samad Said remarked its well over 50 billion thats missing from Malay equity. That is 50 billion plus equity in ringgit that Malays actually owned thats gone missing! BN is going to be in for a rude shock. It is the Malays who are not going to vote for UMNO and Perkasa this time unless … the missing billions (can be accounted for)!
is it wrong to say, that inevitably, some or many ‘poor m…s’ WILL always want to vote for their own u..o m…s lah. why would they vote for other … parties, when they are , so afraid, that these others… are more hard working, sweating away to make ends meet for they themselves and their children. one day they(the poor m….s), will wake up, fully realising that , being lackadaisical in their attitude, they will be left far behind. all these fiasco faced by the handicapped(poor)… could be attributed to one and only man of 22 years of extremely poor… Read more »
Daylight robbery.
When a new gormen takes over, I wonder if these guys will be actively prosecuted or will it be political diplomacy to let bygones be bygones.
My take, whoever doesn’t take these (parties) to task is as guilty as them and this will decide my casting of vote in the subsequent elections
I think even if PR get to be in Putrajaya, they wont go after them. What is every ones take here on this?
Earthly justice or no prosecution is just one matter. The eternal truth is there’s no escape from damnation comes Judgement Day. Not even the Devil himself can escape, so what are these minions?
Unless they turn from these evils to bring about a better Malaysia.
We are all here for a temporary earthly haul, not eternal haul of injustices.
And the days of man-made injustices are numbered. So be comforted in the Truth.
Decade by decade, the number of zeros keep growing. Everthing else is a distraction.
“The dogs bark, but the caravan goes on.”
Flattery doesn’t get you anywhere, does it, Anil?
Well, whether Pakatan is doing a good job governing or not, something needs to be done about these fast ones.
If nothing else, the days of the rubber stamp are gone.
A university classmate of mine is a BN crony contractor with more than RM 70 million annual turnover at two years ago. He frankly told me open tender can save at least 30% government budget.
(If we assume) 30% out of 36 billion – (that’s an) astronomical 10.6 billion. The whole nation (may have to) fork out extra 10.6 billion to feed UMNO cronies.
Unless your brain is damaged, keep voting BN is asking UMNO goons to ‘sodomize’ you for enjoyment.
After 54 years of sodomization, the rakyat of Malaysia just can’t live without another day of sodomizing from BN.
I already expect this rent seeking outcome from day one.
The only harsh word I can find is **** BN. Anil, please don’t censor it.
…no wonder, the … man from one of the Northern States came out swinging…. with his fantastic article favoring the ruling administration… How low this bloke was willing to stoop to get his X’mas goodies!!!
Dont know what other damage they will do to the nations coffers before an imminent change
God save Malaysia
First they agree on the cronies, then they agree on the profit sharing terms. If everything is considered agreeable among the relevant power holders, then they go through the formalities. As long as power is in their hands, they can do anything they like. See what they could do in Parliament! Irritate the opposition and get them worked up. Suspend those who made the most noise. Soon they can even have 2/3 majority, so easy one. It is like an accountant preparing a set of accounts, with the final amount of profit or loss set, then fill in the other… Read more »
Manipulate With Evil Intent.
At All Costs of Rakyat’s Powerlessness of Law & Free-flowing National Coffer.
The Nation Is Surely Going To The Hyenas.
The Hyper MRT project costing RM36 B will be a major source of revenue to prolong BN’s lifespan helps by cronyism company. Without calling for tender and lack of transparency, forever government lopsided agreement favouring Gamuda-MMC is definite without doubt. Gamuda is going to be the biggest winner with guaranteed billions of RM profit. Apart from construction work generating profits, the jewel landbank surrounding MRT development that makes Gamuda richest company. WHO ARE THE BENEFICIARES OF GAMUDA? The jewel landbank is government owned but Gamuda (may have) already (allegedly) demarcated these government owned landbank as their own. That is why… Read more »