Umno-connected firm big winner of Felda contracts?

Direct links between Felda development projects and an Umno-connected company has provoked questions about the awarding process for these projects.

A search on the matter, alluded to by PAS central committee member Husam Musa ( right ) in his blog on Tuesday, revealed that the list of projects awarded to W&W Architects, a company owned by prominent Umno members.

They are Bukit Chandan assemblyperson Wan Mohd Khair-il Anuar Wan Ahmad and one Wan Burhanuddin Wan Hassan.

Confirming this, Husam added that Wan Burhanuddin had belonged to the Besut Umno Youth branch.

He was also said to have close ties with the family of a Felda top gun, who also hails from the Terengganu town.

Among projects awarded to the firm are Feldajaya townships -a mixed development projects for second generation Felda settlers.

However, according to Husam, the township projects are not exactly flying off the shelves, either due to inappropriate location or price.

In Feldajaya Trolak, one of four of the townships completed, a bungalow goes for about RM180, 000.

"If you go to these townships you will see that they are just ‘white elephant' projects," he said of the projects, also found in Chini, Serting and Mempaga.

According to Husam, they had cost a total of RM152 million to date.

However, in his speech in 2006, then deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak had announced that Felda had allocated RM188 million for the development of the four townships.

While the architect firm's cut of the deal is unclear, the PAS leader said the total cost of all the projects which W&W were involved in could amount to close to half a billion ringgit.

This also includes the construction of MRSM Felda Trolak and community colleges in Terengganu and Sabah, which he said Felda had paid for.

' We didn't do anything wrong'

When contacted, Wan Mohd Khair-il said that "this is an old issue" and that the company has been in operation since 1990 and was not the only consultants involved in Felda projects.

"We have been serving government agencies like Felda for 20 years now and if they re-hired us then it means that they are happy with our service.

"It's unfair of Husam to attack our livelihood like this. I am a kampung boy made good who had worked hard to grow my firm through recessions and all that.

"We too are unhappy when our projects are delayed and don't go right. He should just stick to attacking Felda and not our rice bowl," he said.

The Umno Kuala Kangsar deputy chief added that the Feldajaya projects are handled mostly by his business partner Wan Burhanuddin.

He, however, refutes allegations that W&W won the contracts through personal connection with the Felda chairman.

"I am close to many people but that doesn' t mean I'll get contracts. Look at (PKR Federal Territory chief) Zaid Ibrahim, his (law) firm is professional so they get contracts. There's nothing extraordinary," he said.

He also denies that the Felda projects they worked on are worth a total half a billion ringgit, as alleged by Husam.

"Maybe if Husam knows of projects worth that much in Kelantan he can recommend us," he said, tongue-in-cheek.

Meanwhile, Wan Burhanuddin also denied that they got the projects through personal connections.

"We went through the due process and submitted proposals and were selected based on this by the panel in Felda Engineering," he told Malaysiakini .