Pua: Govt not terminating MRT2 underground deal
KUALA LUMPUR: The Pakatan Harapan government is not terminating the underground portion of the Mass Rapid Transit Line 2 (MRT2) project, said political secretary to the finance minister Tony Pua.
Pua, who is Damansara member of Parliament, said the government planned to award the project to a contractor that could undertake the underground works at a lower cost.
He said this in an open letter to the directors of MMC-Gamuda, which issued a statement on Monday claiming that the move by the Finance Ministry to terminate the joint venture company’s contract for the MRT2 underground works would trigger 20,000 job losses.
“To the purported 20,000 workers who, according to MMC Gamuda, would lose their jobs as a result of the underground contract termination, let me emphasise that the Malaysian government is not terminating the project.
“You will find plenty of opportunities when the new project is awarded at a lower cost, while the savings generated would mean even more projects for the future,” said Pua yesterday.
The DAP national publicity secretary also took MMC Gamuda to task, claiming it had put up a great show and issued a letter proclaiming innocence over the termination of the project.
The contract, he said, was terminated after MMC Gamuda refused to further reduce the cost of developing the underground section of the transit line.
Citing a study by an independent engineering consultant, Pua said the cost of the project could be reduced by RM2 billion more.
He said based on the study, MRT Corp should expect total savings of RM4.19 billion to RM5.79 billion for the remaining 60 per cent of works.
“Do we say, ‘it’s OK la, let’s just accept the RM2.13 billion reduction offered by MMC Gamuda’?
“After all, we can take this figure and boast to Malaysians of our ‘magnificent’ achievement, for they would know no better that we might have left another RM2 billion of potential savings on the table.
“(Or do) we honour the mandate and trust the people have given us and maximise the savings we can reasonably derive from the project? RM2 billion can pay (for) five hospitals or 50 schools.
“The cabinet obviously made the decision to pick the latter. And you (are) seriously telling Malaysians to blame the cabinet for the termination?” he said.
On Sunday, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said all unfinished underground works for MRT2 would be re-tendered via an international open tender process.
He had said the present administration was steadfast about obtaining “value for money” on all government expenditure, especially when large borrowings were required to complete a project.
The following day, MMC Gamuda issued a statement explaining that the latest move by the ministry would result in 20,000 job losses, of which more than 3,000 would be MMC Gamuda joint venture staff, and of this, more than 60 per cent are Bumiputera.