Fadillah: Don’t play games over Penang Undersea Tunnel project

GEORGE TOWN: Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof has told the Penang government to leave him out of whatever game it is playing over the Penang Undersea Tunnel project .

This came after state Public Works Committee chairman Lim Hock Seng told a press conference that it was Fadillah who had mooted the third bridge project idea (over the tunnel) as it would cost less.

In a media statement issued yesterday, Fadillah said it was the Penang government who had written to him early last year, asking to approve a bridge to replace the tunnel project.

He said the ministry’s reply then was that it could not approve major infrastructure projects without supporting documents.

“It was the state government which had promised that it will send the RM305 million studies for the tunnel and three paired roads projects, where RM220 million was confirmed to have been paid by the state government, to me by the end of last year.

“It was also the state government which said that the studies were incomplete and it would send them in by the middle of this year,” he said.

“And now, after multiple rounds of broken promises, it is also the state government which said it would not be sending the reports because there was no urgency for the project.

“Despite saying there is no more urgency, the state government is again asking me to approve the project in principal without any supporting documents, which means we are back to square one.”

Fadillah said contrary to Lim’s claim that it was he who asked the Penang government to change the tunnel to the bridge, he reminded the latter that it was the Penang chief minister who mooted the change and had asked for the bridge to replace the tunnel.

He said Lim should also be reminded of the reason why the state government suddenly mooted the change early last year.

“The state government was unable to withstand the scrutiny of Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications director Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who had asked why the state government was paying the full cost of construction for the tunnel but was still giving a 30-year toll concession to the contractors, a concession model that is unlike any in the country’s history.

“The common practice of privatisation agreements is for concession companies to raise their own funding to build the project and then collect tolls to recover their investment and not for them to be fully paid to build a project and then be rewarded further with a 30-year concession agreement to collect even more money.

“Therefore, to deflect these serious claims, the Penang government suddenly and very abruptly said they wanted to change to a bridge despite defending the tunnel and the 30-year concession over the years.”