The Entertainment Village (E-Village) project that was at one time touted to be the catalyst for the development of the local multimedia content and film industry has now stalled.

Its state of affairs needs immediate attention because if left in the hands of the Multimedia Development Corporation, the situation may never improve, and Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamads dream to build our country as an infotainment centre may never materialise.

The following is a checklist to show where and why the E-Village has lost its glitter:

1) The MDC channelled RM52 million into Entertainment Village Sdn Bhd (EVSB), which is a privately owned company of Ibrahim Abdul Ghaffar. Why was such a huge amount of taxpayers money given to one individual? It should have been more gainfully used to support the growth of the content industry.

2) Apart from the RM52 million, why did MDC undertake another the liability of RM50 million owing to contractors by EVSB? Who approved the deferred payment to the contractors?

3) Why did MDC, after paying RM50 million, not exercise the rights over the project but instead let the place rot while it kept paying the liabilities?

4) MDC said it has conducted due diligence and the takeover by the new owner would be on Feb 1. But interested companies could not complete their due diligence due to lack of documents supporting EVSB claims. EVSB is also said to be demanding RM100 million for the sale of E-Village.

5) Why did MDC not report this matter to ACA? It's a clear case of misappropriation of tax payers money and whoever is responsible has not discharged his responsibilities to the nation but has in fact helped to destroy the potential of the industry and the vision of our PM.

6) Is MDC going to bail out the person responsible for the fiasco? If so, in what manner?

7) Is someone else taking over? I think MDC owes us these answers as RM52 million is a huge amount of taxpayers money.

8) Under the Eighth Malaysia Plan, an allocation of RM42 million was allocated for rendering faculties, training and hands-on projects. Today, we have yet to see the establishment of any of these facilities. We have been given to understand at least three companies have already submitted their proposals. Was it another publicity stunt by MDC and what steps are being taken to ensure that it will not be ripped off again?

What is causing the delay? Multimedia companies interested in using the facilities are left in the dark about the development and are beginning to lose faith in MDCs capability to spearhead the multimedia industry.

What is causing all the problems in MDC and the projects they are supposed to launch? Is it because too much power has been given to just one man who is the chairperson of the board as well as the executive chairperson of MDC?

The problems at E-Village must be resolved fast or it will end up as yet another statistic on our ever-growing list of monumental bail-outs or even flops that have smeared our present government.