Media Statement
by Tony Pua, DAP National Publicity Secretary and Member of Parliament for Petaling
Jaya Utara in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 18 July 2013
A “Private Sector Initiative” is not justification for no open tender in
the award of the Iskandar railway system
Earlier this
week, I have questioned the award of the RM1 billion Johor commuter train
project to Metropolitan Commuter Network (MCN), a subsidiary of Malaysia Steel
Works (KL) Bhd (Masteel) by the Malaysian government without open tender.
Masteel has
responded via a press statement on Tuesday to say that “other bidders had not been
prevented from submitting their bids to the government”. It added that “it was a private sector
initiative, as opposed to a government-driven project”.
Let me first
make it clear that it is the right for any private company to submit any number
of unsolicited bids for any types of projects to the Government. However, the unsolicited bids by these
companies do not in themselves justify direct negotiations between the Government
and these companies.
The Federal
Government, in this case represented by Public-Private Partnership Agency
(UKAS) in the Prime Minister’s Department, must still place emphasis on
transparency and accountability in the award of any contracts. And the best
mechanism to ensure that the interest of the public are fully protected
especially in projects such as this, is via open, transparent and competitive
tenders.
What is more,
this RM1 billion project involves the provision of a 20-year RM700 million soft
loan to the concessionaire. The question
that needs to be asked to the Prime Minister’s Department is, if the Government
has to fund 70% of the project, why bother privatising it in the first place to
a 37-year concession?
As admitted by
Masteel CEO, Datuk Seri Tai Hean Leng himself, MCN will take “12 to 13 years to
recover its costs”, which means that the concessionaire will have the remaining
24 to 25 years to make lucrative returns for their project.
Masteel has
also defended itself in our claim that the company is mainly involved in steel
manufacturing, and has no prior experience in train services. The company argued that it has “experience in
complex mechanical and electrical hardware and automation” which gives them
“the relevant experience in operating trains are trains are relatively simple
mechanical system compared to steel mills”.
It is not my
place to judge the competence of Masteel and whether it will be able to manage
rail systems despite having no prior experience in such projects. However, based on the company’s own reply
that “experience in complex mechanical and electrical hardware and automation”
is sufficient, then I am certain that scores of other companies would be equal
to the job. Certainly in this case,
there would then be little justification for a direct negotiation because the
project apparently requires very little specialised expertiese as “trains are
relatively simple mechanical systems”.
Therefore given
Masteel feedback, the direct negotiations must stop immediately and the Prime
Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak himself must insist that the project be
tendered openly and competitively.
Despite news
articles being posted on Masteel on website entitled “Masteel Gets Nod for
Iskandar-Singapore Rail Link”, the company has now clarified that “at the time
of writing, MCN is still undergoing the process of obtaining the necessary
approvals fro various ministries and has not been granted full approval to
undertake the project.”
This
clarification is welcome as we can now call upon the Government to ensure that
this RM1 billion project which has yet to be awarded, be tendered openly
instead of being directly negotiated. It
is only by ensuring that all projects awarded by the Government are at the best
value, can the interest of the commuters and Malaysians be protected – e.g.,
the commuter fares will be at the lowest possible.
In the open
tender exercise, we would strongly encourage the Government to invite Masteel
to take part in the tender to prove that it is the most competent party
offering the lowest prices to implement the project.
Tiada ulasan:
Catat Ulasan