Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat today said the government will not bow to opposition's calls for a closure of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ), despite the damning disclosure last week following the release of an audit report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

ong tee keat pkfz klang visit 060508 12 The minister, in his latest blog posting while accompanying Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's official visit to China, said his ministry and government is working intensely on a roadmap to recovery for PKFZ.

"Closing down PKFZ as suggested by the opposition is clearly a knee-jerk reaction, which spells of political agenda and a defeatist attitude," said Ong.

"We must make wise decisions based on the best input available from relevant parties. We should take this situation seriously when billions of ringgit and the future of our children are at stake," added the minister.

penanti by election 300509 lim kit siang and pkfz report.jpg Ong also blasted veteran opposition politician Lim Kit Siang (right) , claiming the DAP supremo did not keep up-to-speed on the government's plan to resolve the PKFZ scandal.

"He asked me for the way forward when I have clearly spelt out that the Port Klang Authority (PKA) would act on four fronts on the findings on the very day the report was released," he said.

The four fronts are:

  • To seek legal recourse for contractual shortcomings or irregularities;

  • To seek professional advice on the restructuring of financial obligations of PKA;

  • To improve and tighten governance issues at management and board levels of PKA;

  • To further beef up the day-to-day management of PKFZ to strengthen operations and improve its financial returns.

‘We're not sitting still'

Ong said at this very moment, professional experts and entrepreneurs have been roped in to provide their views and expertise on how to bring PKFZ back on track for which it was originally conceived.

"We are not sitting still and playing rhetoric. In the weeks and months ahead, my ministry and PKA will put in place a series of action plans to lessen the pain on taxpayers," he said.

"If the opposition has constructive inputs, we would be more than happy to accommodate their ideas on how to save the project and make it thrive."

The minister said he would continuously engage and update the public on the actions that would be taken under the roadmap.

"Therefore, I see no reason to waste valuable time to engage in fruitless public debates of any form that does not help to solve the problems.

"It appears that public debates are the opposition's obvious idea of resolving the country's ills."

Ong also said he has instructed the PKA to submit 14 copies of the report as well as the appendices to members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for scrutiny.

The PKFZ audit report indicated the project has ballooned from RM1.96 billion when the free-trade zone was conceived in 2001, to a staggering RM12 billion.

pkfz report lee hwa beng pc 280509 2

The astronomical figure includes mounting interest costs, according to the PwC report released last week.

"The original estimated cost for the land purchase and development works in 2001 was RM1.957 billion ... (the) project outlay has escalated to RM3.522 billion as at Dec 31, 2008.

"Interest cost of the deferred payments to KDSB (Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd) amounted to RM1.425 billion resulting in a total project outlay of RM4.947 billion," the report stated.