Lembah Pantai parliamentarian Nurul Izzah Anwar questioned again today the logic behind the government awarding the controversial Mass Rail Transit project to Gamuda Bhd, despite Scomi Group Bhd's lower bid.

"We were informed by reliable sources that Scomi's price was RM25 billion," she told a press conference in the Parliament lobby today.

NONE Nurul Izzah asked the government to explain why did it chose the more expensive tender from Gamuda at RM36 billion.

She argued that Scomi was also one of two companies in the world with the expertise to deliver end-to-end rail projects.

Nurul Izzah, who is also a PKR vice-president, pointed out that she was not promoting Scomi but wanted to know why a company with experience and offering to do the job cheaper was not selected.

She also urged the government to put a moratorium on the project pending the formation of a parliamentary committee to look into the matter.

This, she said, was because the project, despite being the most expensive public project Malaysia is ever undertaking, continued to leave important questions unanswered and sprouted worries that in the end, it may lead to another disastrous project the citizens will have to pay for.

The MRT project was awarded to Gamuda for RM36 billion, but those who claim to be "in the know" project the total cost to balloon to more than RM50 billion. Work on the MRT is due to start in June.