Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has blasted Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha for placing the interests of megaprojects over that of the people.

NONE In a statement yesterday, Lim ( left ) ridiculed the minister’s criticism that the Penang government had made a U-turn in the stop work order on rail project company MMC-Gamuda JV Sdn Bhd.

“Kong Cho Ha should explain what is wrong for MMC-Gamuda to give letters of guarantee protecting the public against floods when the Transport Ministry can issue letters of guarantee to private companies embroiled in the RM 12.85 billion Port Klang Free Trade Zone scandal?

“Or are private companies more important than the public?”

He said the minister had totally missed the key point when he claimed that the stop work order should not have been issued in the first place since the contractor can give briefings, saying that “protecting public interest” was critical.

“I fail to understand how the state government has done a U-turn by backing down and lifting the stop-work order, after the contractor has fully complied with our two conditions in writing that it will bear all losses should a similar flood problem as in Kedah arise on the mainland in Penang as a result of the project,” said Lim.

The other condition required was the company must also remove and tear down any structure built by them that causes water retention or water to overflow, in the event of flooding.

NONE He sarcastically remarked that the ministry should not criticise Penang’s request for the letter of guarantee that protects the public against floods, when the former had “issued letters of guarantee to private companies embroiled in the RM 12.85 billion Port Klang Free Trade Zone scandal”.

“The obsession by MCA leaders for mega projects instead of people’s interests is very unhealthy,” said Lim.

He also chided the minister for complaining about the move when the contractor had not protested and had given full cooperation on the matter.

“Only Kong has protested. I wish to remind Kong that the people are the real bosses, not the contractor nor the Transport Ministry,” said Lim.

Accusations of non-cooperation ‘baseless’

 

The chief minister also lambasted Kong for “twisting the issue” in suggesting that the Penang government was being difficult and had refused to work with the federal government on mega projects.

“Such attacks are baseless, as the state government would not have otherwise approved this RM13 billion project,” said Lim.

NONE Last Friday, the Transport Minister criticised the Penang government after the latter lifted its stop work order on the Ipoh-Padang Besar Electrified Double Track Project (EDTP), blamed for the worsening floods in northern states.

Kong had called the move unnecessary and "a cheap publicity tool".

“The major floods in Kedah have shown that the normal flood control measures in place by the contractor after full consultation with JPS and JKR no longer works. The state government has thereby chosen to adopt an aggressive pro-active approach in flood crisis management by adopting pre-emptive measures aimed at either avoiding a mitigating the adverse impact,” said Lim.

“Kong should realise that the people’s homes, livelihood and billions of ringgit in investments high-tech industrial parks in Prai and Bukit Minyak are at stake.

“Penang and our 1.6 million people just cannot afford another Kedah-type flood and all preventive measures must be taken to ensure that in the event such floods occur, losses can be minimised,” he concluded.