In calling for the federal government to make public the West Coast Expressway (WCE) concession agreement, the DAP has highlighted the Penang government’s transparency in carrying out tender exercises as an example.

NONE DAP publicity chief Tony Pua said the state government’s tender exercises for public procurement and privatisation projects are done transparently, even to the extent of disclosing details for public scrutiny.

This, he said, was done for the People’s Park and Subterranean International Convention Exhibition projects.

“We call on Najib (Abdul Razak’s) so-called ‘transformation government’ to learn from the Pakatan Rakyat state governments, as well as our manifesto, to ensure open and competitive tenders for all projects,” Pua said in a statement today.

“Declassifying all government concession and procurement contracts (would) ensure transparency and eliminate corruption and abuse of power.”

Pakatan parliamentarians have criticised the federal government for its allegedly favourable treatment of WCE concessionaire Kumpulan Europlus Bhd (Keuro).

It obtained an extended 60-year toll concession, a RM2.24 billion federal government soft loan at 4 percent interest, and interest subsidy of up to 3 percent on commercial loans for a period of 22 years.

The land acquisition costs amounting to RM980 million will also be borne by the federal government.

 

Even though the project cost has reportedly been scaled down from RM7.07 billion to RM5.2 billion, Pua said the new deal is not good enough because the cost is still higher than the original RM3.015 billion.

He reiterated that the federal government had awarded the project to Keuro through direct negotiation.

“Without a competitive tender, there is absolutely no way of telling if the people are still substantially over-paying for the highway,” he said.

“Why didn’t Najib take the past 12 months to carry out an open and competitive tender to obtain the best value for taxpayers’ monies? What is so special about this company that the government (is so desperate to) give them the contract?”

NONE

According to a report in The Edge Financial Daily , the length of the WEC, which runs from Banting in Selangor to Taiping in Perak, has been reduced from 316km to 233km.

It also said the government has scrapped the 3 percent interest subsidy for commercial loans, while an ‘early termination’ clause will be activated if Keuro gains higher-than-expected revenue and recovers its cost.