Of late, Gamuda-MMC has been mentioned in connection with the RM36b MRT project for Klang Valley – the biggest mega project so far. But why has an MRT proposal been put forward when the national public transport policy is not yet ready?
The thing is, 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.
So why did Gamuda-MMC put forward a proposal earlier in the year, before the public transport masterplan was ready? Many people are under the impression that the proposal is a done deal. Meanwhile, the technical study for the MRT is nearing completion, according to The Edge, whereas work on the LRT extension has hardly begun, four years after it was first announced: “Common sense dictates that we should undertake such big ticket projects one at a time,” the weekly business paper observed.
No decision on the Gamuda-MMC proposal has been made so far, insists Spad CEO Mohd Nur Ismal Mohamed Kamal during an interview with a radio station. He says the proposal is misunderstood: it’s not for the whole RM36 billion construction as a single package. The proposal is “to manage the award for the different packages of the project. Then they will share the risks, the gains and the pains, whether the project is on time or under cost or cost overruns. That in itself is quite, quite different from the way people are thinking – it is not a design and build proposal.”
He maintains that the project has not yet been awarded; neither has the government given a commitment to any entity.
But the radio interviewer raises an important point: “The issue here is there’s only one main contractor being negotiated with and that in of itself is open to leakages.” What is being done to prevent such ‘leakages’? We can’t just leave it to external agencies such as the Public Accounts Committee or the MACC. Moreover, he adds, contractors should be pre-qualified and the cheapest proposal selected.
This interviewer does a brilliant job in raising “concerns over corruption and leakages, the need for open tenders, principles of good economic governance, protocols governing the award of tenders — and whether SPAD and Malaysia adhere to these principles”. If only we had more chat show hosts like him.
Listen to the whole interview over BFM’s Breakfast Grille (MP3 format):
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If you take a close look at rapid Penang buses, you will find many different models, all painted with the same colours to resemble uniformity.
The reason for this is very clear.
Instead of sticking to 2 models, the treasury allotted the supply of those new buses (allegedly) to certain cronies so that they may each supply several buses to the company from various countries in various models.
The stocking of spare parts to maintain this fleet of buses is certainly going to be a nightmare.
Articulated buses (with tickets sold at comfortable bus stands) do the job at a fraction of the cost – provided you penalise cars enough to give the buses a clear path on the road. This has been proven in Curutiba, Brazil and Quito, Equador. Seoul has a world-class road management system.
There is no need to re-invent the wheel, unless you are up to siomething.
Hi everyone,
As Hazliza said the next GE is fast approaching, everything has to be done in a hurry to make sure that whatever happens in the 13 GE,the die for such projects have been cast so that it to be impossible or too costly for subsequent govt. to undo! Remember the Kg Buah Pala case, where the political eunuch CM KTK and his collaborators from UMNO made it difficult to undo what they’ve planned so well, even though fully aware of the cost to the people!!
Now bn want to build another 100 storey skysraper in KL.
Most poor rakyat got no house to live in, yet BN government want to have another iconic building to syiok poket sendiri.
But he can apologize later on! What is the point? To gain some … sympathy?
We will always be fools to … to these high-handed elected leaders of thieves of our nation’s wealth.
Anyway, Karma is seen acting its course full steam on Gerakan.
And please, don’t pity that doggie at the charlatan window!
If you cannot afford to buy a house, even the ‘discount’ in stamp duty would not help you much, it is just delaying your agony when your house get repossessed by the bank later when you default on payment.
Everything is already planned, the benefactors (perhaps) already chosen long before they put the proposal on the table…UMNO STYLE lah!…Malaysia boleh, “ketuanan Melayu” macam macam boleh…
Everyone knows the style and practices of Umno.
All in the name of helping malays but in reality only to pocket the money for themselves.
Yep, heard this session at Bfm too
Like the interviewer who really grilled the not so convincing CEO of SPAD
I think it’s important to work on a properly planned and workable bus transport system before we go into super expensive MRT system.
In any case an MRT system is NOT a cure all unless it’s integrated with other public transport, principally a good bus transport system.
Cheers to the Interviewer.. well posed questions but unfortunately NON transparent answers!! Lots of cliques terms; best practises,KPI, overseas study .. but no real substance. Yes, it’s a case of putting the cart before the horse!
Umno need to get this done before the next GE as they may not be around after that.
If you like to download the entire MP3 file, right click on the following link and choose “Save As”:
http://www.bfm.my/assets/site/download.php?f=assets/files/Breakfast%20Grill/2010-10-12_BreakfastGrille_Chuang_Mohd%20Nur%20Ismal%20Mohamed%20KamalSPAD_Podcast.mp3