Nurul Izzah Anwar has urged the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry to clarify if it is awarding an upgrading project of a sewage treatment plant by direct negotiation for RM1 billion.
The Lembah Pantai MP said today the RM1 billion price tag for the plant, which is located in her constituency, was double the cost estimated by Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd officials about two years ago.
“I am concerned that to my knowledge there was no open tender exercise ever being called for the upgrading work at the Pantai 2 sewage treatment plant,” Nurul Izzah (picture) told reporters today.
“What alarms me “What alarms me most is the indication that the project will be awarded for a price tag of RM1 billion, 100 per cent more expensive than a market estimate of the cost,” she said.
The PKR vice-president said the ministry was planning to convert the open sewage treatment plant into a mechanised plant to reduce the odour suffered by residents of surrounding low-cost apartments.
Nurul Izzah pointed out that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had declared that he would phase off direct negotiation practices.
“This is a mockery of the range of transformation programmes bandied by the Barisan Nasional (BN),” she said.
Shortly after taking office in 2009, Najib had given assurances that he would cut down on direct negotiations for government procurement contracts and adopt the tender system instead to curb corruption and restore public confidence in the government.
Najib replaced Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as PM after the historic Election 2008 that saw BN lose its two-thirds parliamentary majority and five states.
After coming into power, Najib launched a slew of government programmes to propel Malaysia into the ranks of high-income nations by 2020.
“Taking into account the amount of government debts to be inherited by Malaysian youth, the alleged 100 per cent cost increase is atrocious,” said Nurul Izzah.
“Therefore, I call upon the minister in charge to clarify whether or not a tender exercise has been conducted to solicit the best price for the project,” she added, referring to Datuk Seri Peter Chin.
