Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has been urged to 'set his face' against the proposed RM490 million sports training centre near London.

Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang said the centre is a test-case as to whether the current administration can also be guilty of indulging in mega-projects without any accountability and transparency.

"Abdullah should set his face against the proposed centre when he announces details of the implementation of the 9th Malaysia Plan tomorrow to demonstrate in clear and unequivocal terms that as prime minister, he would not countenance mega-projects or massive public expenditures which lack accountability and transparency," he said in a statement over the weekend.

Lim also said it was 'pathetic' to see top government leaders making confusing and conflicting statements on the issue.

This indicates that probably only a handful of people know what is really going on about the project, he added.

Citing Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Liow Tiong Lai as an example, Lim said the deputy minister told Parliament that no allocation has been made for the training centre.

However, the opposition leader said this was contradicted by Youth and Sports Minister Azalina Othman Said who revealed that 14 squash players and 10 archers have been sent to Brickendonbury, implying that the scheme has been launched.

Heritage site

Lim said the New Sunday Times interview with National Sports Council director-general Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz has "thrown a little more light, but not enough to clear up the darkness."

Ramlan, who headed a task force to turn part of the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) in Brickendonbury into a sports training centre, disclosed that on average the ministry spent about RM3 million on overseas competitions.

He said he "would be keen to see if we could transfer some of these cost savings and divert them to the development of the centre".

According to Lim, this is a "most extraordinary proposal" as RM490 million would be equivalent to the expenditures for 163 years on the basis of RM3 million a year on overseas competitions.

Ramlan also acknowledged that the TARCC, which was a Roman settlement 2,000 years ago, is a protected heritage area and local regulations stipulate that "structures shouldn't be higher than the tree line" and "be congruent with the existing main building and surrounding structures"

"Can Ramlan throw light as to how such a sports training centre could be built complying with the British heritage regulations and how the Sports Ministry had started using the TARRC in Brickendonbury by sending 14 squash players and 10 archers without submitting any building plan for the proposed training centre - even before approval had been given by Parliament?" asked Lim.

On July 10, Azalina revealed in a parliamentary reply that the main purpose to build the academy was to allow Malaysian athletes and national teams to adapt to the cold weather.

It is also in line with the strategy to have Malaysian athletes closer to countries that excel in sports, said the minister.