With contractor Gerbang Perdana Sdn Bhd now seeking RM360 million in compensation for the scrapped half bridge project, Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang today said Malaysians are being made 'suckers'.

According to him, the scenario spelt 'heads I win, tails you lose' for the public.

The opposition leader was commenting on Works Minister S Samy Vellu's revelation yesterday that the contractor had tripled the compensation claim from the original RM100 million reported earlier.

Samy Vellu said Gerbang Perdana "had asked for all sorts of compensations" which the ministry could not entertain.

The minister added that he had directed Public Works Department director-general Dr Wahid Omar to conduct an investigation into the claims.

Samy Vellu also revealed that his ministry had completed its investigation on the work Gerbang Perdana had done and determined the appropriate quantum for the compensation.

According to him, it was "much less than what they asked for". However, he refused to disclose the amount until its brought to the Cabinet.

'Outrageous demand'

Commenting on this, Lim said: "The outrageous demand is matched by the outrage committed by the works minister in refusing to give particulars of Gerbang Perdana's more than tripling of the original claim."

In a statement on his blog, Lim said Parliament was told in April that the costs of the cancellation of the RM1.1 billion bridge was RM350 million: RM100 million compensation to the contractor and RM250 million to build a new highway joining the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex in Johor to the causeway.

Until Samy's 'shocking revelation' yesterday, he noted, the costs had already ballooned to over RM1.1 billion exceeding the original cost of the half-bridge. The total RM1.12 billion comprised:

i) RM100 million compensation

ii) RM470 million instead of the RM250 million eight-lane elevated highway from the new CIQ to the causeway because of related works such as connecting roads and amenities

iii) RM170 million which had already been spent on the half-bridge before it was cancelled

iv) RM380 million demand for land premium by the Johor state government.

"There are many questions which Samy Vellu should answer, for instance, why the eight-lane 800 metre-long elevated highway is so expensive when the average cost of quality eight-lane elevated highways meeting international standards is between RM75 million to 80 million?" said Lim.

Even if the government pares the new claim of RM360 million, as long as it is more than RM100 million, the cost of cancelling the half-bridge would exceed the cost of building it, he pointed out.

"Parliament and the nation are entitled to know how the government had landed Malaysian taxpayers in such a ludicrous situation where the proponents of the project, including Gerbang Perdana, are placed in a position of 'heads I win, tails you lose' with 26 million Malaysians made the suckers," he said.

Let the courts decide

In a related development, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the government should refuse paying even a single sen to the contractor and the let courts decide.

"Any failure to do so would not only question Samy Vellu's commitment to saving public funds but more importantly question the integrity of the (Prime Minister) Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi) government in fighting corruption and abuse of power," he said in a statement.

No one should be allowed to profit from the cancellation of the project at the expense of the public, he added.

Meanwhile, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Shahrir Abdul Samad refused to comment on the new compensation sum based on a news report.

However, he told reporters at the Parliament lobby that PAC had asked the auditor-general to look into the matter.