Double Track -" King" Problems

Nazri confirms MACC to probe double-tracking project

By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani
Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 - The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will investigate the double-tracking rail project that has resulted in more than RM1 billion in losses, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz (picture) announced today.

The MACC investigations come after the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) announced last week it wanted to probe the RM6 billion double-tracking project when the Auditor-General's Report said poor project management led to the losses.

“MACC will investigate PAC‘s minutes. PAC is the parliament’s committee so certainly ... As I have said, MACC has informed me that they will investigate based on the allegations made by the PAC so there will be no dispute so don’t worry,” the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department told reporters in Parliament.

Nazri said that the MACC had assured him that they would pursue the PAC’s recommendations.

“The fact that it was tabled in the Parliament and there is no debate about it because the PAC is a extension of the Parliament and their decision is our decision,” he added.

Umno MPs also urged the MACC to probe Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat’s role in the project during the budget debate in Parliament on Monday.

According to the PAC report, former Transport Minister Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy admitted that the double-tracking project was “three times the size” of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

“No, it is not the biggest (project under the Ministry of Transport). Double-tracking project is much bigger. It is 12 almost 13 billion? It is three times the size of this project (PKFZ).

“We are talking only the northern, the southern part is almost four billion,” Chan said in his testimony recently to the PAC.

According to this year’s national audit report, the government may have to bear part of the RM1.14 billion loss in the 179km double-tracking rail contract between Rawang and Ipoh as the project was poorly managed.

The Rawang to Ipoh (southern) double-tracking and electrification project was completed in 2008 while the Ipoh to Padang Besar portion was proposed in 2002 as a continuation of the existing tracks.

In 2003, former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that the government had decided to postpone the project which drew heavy criticism from his predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

However, the project was revived when then Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that the Cabinet Committee on Public Transport had decided to revive the shelved northern section double-tracking project in 2007.

The project was awarded to Gamuda Berhad and MMC Corporation Berhad.

The major stakeholders of Gamuda and MMC are Raja Datuk Seri Eleena Sultan Azlan Shah and Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary respectively.