Fresh from churning out Pemandu reports, some of which proposed the building of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), consultancy firm McKinsey &amp; Co has again been hired - this time to conduct a Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) study on the value management of such a project.


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 Basing his question on a report in
 
 The Star
 
 today that said Mckinsey would now helm the Spad study into the matter, DAP Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua (
 
 right
 
 ) questioned the impartiality of the arrangement.


 "Will McKinsey do a fair analysis of the cost benefits of the MRT system, when it is part of the Pemandu project that, in the first place, proposed the MRT system?


 "While there may be no direct conflict of interest, one has to wonder how fair and unbiased the report is going to be," Pua (right) told a press conference in the Parliament lobby today.


 In light of this, he called for all studies carried out now, and in the future, to be done openly to make sure everything was above board


 "This is no national security issue, so we must publish all studies to be done, and yet to be done, openly to see if they are done in a fair and transparent manner," he said.


 Pua also criticised the government's apparent rush to implement the MRT project.


 <img align="left" alt="NONE" height="225" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/328/7ffe1571ce0c433b7259b8e59deac8ca.jpg" width="300"/>
 "(It is being implemented) even before public feedback, which ended just this month, is assessed. They are preparing the tenders to be issued next month. This proves how much weight they are giving to public feedback.


 "It has become quite clear that (public feedback) exercises are merely for show. Despite the feedback having been conducted, there seems to be no intention of ever having them integrated in project management and decision-making."


 
 


 Projects must be cost effective


 He again quoted the study on rail transport projects by Prof Bent Flyvbjerg of Oxford University, who proposed several measures to ensure effectiveness, fairness and transparency in public projects.


 The key measures from the study, which Pua called on the government to adopt, include:


 <ul class="unIndentedList">
 <li>
 Plans and studies should be made available for review by independent experts;
 </li>
 </ul>
 <ul class="unIndentedList">
 <li>
 The same plans and studies for public projects should also be made available for public review;
 </li>
 </ul>
 <ul class="unIndentedList">
 <li>
 Public hearings and inquiries on future projects should be held and the findings must be given actual weight in project management and planning; and
 </li>
 </ul>
 <ul class="unIndentedList">
 <li>
 Consultants, contractors and related organisations must be held accountable for cost overruns and should share the financial burdens of such.
 </li>
 </ul>


 However, he said, the DAP did not oppose the MRT project in principle, just the way the government was going about it.


 "The MRT is definitely needed, but it must be done in a cost effective manner, so that the people get value for money."


 
 Possibility of a massing bail-out
 


 DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng, who was also at the press conference, said the possibility of the project becoming yet another government bailout, similar to the LRT service before it, was a scary one.


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 "We dare not even think of that. We hope we don't have to think about it. Why don't they do their homework first? We're talking about billions of ringgit, not one or two, not 10 or 20, but RM53 billion," Lim (
 
 left
 
 ) said.


 The high cost of the project, he said, could translate into a bailout 10 times the size of the LRT project that the government bailed out before, and could well open the floodgates to greater corruption.


 "If there's a leakage of one percent, that's already RM530 million," warned Lim, who is also Penang chief minister.


 <img align="left" alt="azlan" height="532" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/328/0851bd55e98c73fa4a30feece2d998df.gif" width="435"/>

DAP's Tony Pua questions the hiring of McKinsey &amp; Co - which proposed the MRT project - for a value management study on it.


MP: Hiring of McKinsey by Spad smells fishy

~RM12

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