The Penang government has issued an invitation to BN strategic director Abdul Rahman Dahlan to view the relevant documents related to the three highways and undersea bed tunnel projects.

“Come and view the documents for himself and satisfy his own heart,” said Penang executive councillor Lim Hock Seng.

He said in spite of responding to all his queries on May 9, Rahman is repeating the same questions and baseless allegations against the state government.

Lim said the responses to the federal minister has been uploaded on the official Facebook accounts of Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Buletin Mutiara.

“It is clear he does not seem to understand the clarification made by the Penang government.”

On May 9, Lim told the press the actual cost for the feasibility studies for the three highways and an undersea tunnel to link Penang island with Butterworth is RM51.269 million and not RM305 million as claimed by Rahman.

Lim said the RM305 included costs for feasibility studies and detailed design of the four projects.

Environmental Impact Studies and Detailed Environmental Impact Studies would cost a further RM4.9 million and will be paid by the Consortium Zenith BUGC which won the concession to build the projects.

Lim said the projects including the component on feasibility studies, detailed design and environmental impact assessment were awarded via an open request for proposal basis.

Rahman had then demanded an explanation from the Penang government over the staggering sum of RM305 million, questioning the amount paid for feasibility study and associated paperwork.

Unsatisfied with Lim’s response, Rahman posed another seven questions for the Penang government related to the projects.

The entire cost for the three highways and undersea bed tunnel linking Gurney Drive to Bagan Ajam on the mainland is RM6.341 billion and expected to be completed by 2025.

The consortium was awarded the project in December 2013.

Lim (photo) said the actual cost for feasibility study, detailed design and environmental impact assessment of the project was 5.54 percent of the construction cost.

“I have already mentioned that the project including the components on the feasibility study, detailed designed and environmental impact assessment was awarded via RFP, Rahman should not raise these issue again,” Lim said.

“To ensure that the studies are conducted independently, the state government has appointed independent consultants to review the study and advice us on the matter."

Did not review entire documents

Rahman had questioned why the feasibility study for the three highways was RM51.3 million while the cost for the undersea bed tunnel project was only RM20 million.

After all, the construction of the undersea bed tunnel is more complicated, high risk and detailed, he added.

Lim said the minister did not review the entire documents made available to Public Accounts Committee (PAC) or the agreements for the projects.

He added that the length of the entire project was 20.23km - 1.7km for the tunnel, 8.72km for the three highways and 9.81km for the roads at grade, while there are 14 interchanges.

“It is not fair to say that the RM305 million is a staggering amount when Rahman did not compare this amount to any federal projects,” Lim said.

"As a federal minister, Rahman must also be aware that feasibility studies and environmental impact assessment are carried by the company awarded the projects.

"Show us the list of companies which are doing this," he added.