Najib: Cabinet seeks more information on PKFZ
By Sa'odah Elias, The Star
The Cabinet, which discussed the controversial Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project Wednesday, is seeking additional information on what had occurred, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.
“Yes, we did discuss and we are collecting additional information on several matters that had happened,” he told reporters here.
However, in his blog, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said that after deliberating on the issue for the third time, the Cabinet finally gave the green light for the PKFZ report to be released in its entirety.
Ong said that the Cabinet, at its weekly meeting Wednesday, agreed that the Government needed to be transparent on the issue.
He said the Port Klang Authority (PKA) was directed to release the report as soon as everything was in order. It is believed the Ministry has to come up with certain additional information before a full report can be released.
The PKFZ issue, he said, had been played up and used by the Opposition as their political tool since a few years ago.
“I am glad that the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) and my Cabinet colleagues share my aspirations that our Government should be transparent and deal with the issues of the day. Sweeping problems under the carpet is not an option,” he wrote in his blog www.ongteekeat.net.
He said that with the release of the report, the Government has proven that it has nothing to hide and that the new administration was prepared to reveal the truth as well as take appropriate action to correct any wrong.
He said he had since April advocated that the public should be told the truth.
However, he said the release of the report would mean that the chapter would be closed as his ministry and the Government would make sure that its findings were acted on to protect the interests of the public.
The PKFZ project was for a cluster of offices and light industrial buildings in the port area, originally estimated to cost RM1.9bil.
However, sources said the report stated that the project cost would swell to RM7.5bil, partly due to interest costs over a 20-year period.
Sources said one of the recommendations was for the PKA to restructure a RM4.6bil soft loan from the Finance Ministry to avoid a potential default in 2012.
The cost would expand further to RM12.5bil if the loan from the Finance Ministry was rescheduled to match PKA’s projected cash flows, the sources said.
They added that PKA’s options included loan rescheduling, government grant and privatisation.
The sources also said there were PKFZ development proposals which were not tabled to the Cabinet for approval.
They also said development contracts totalling RM1.8bil were awarded to a company called Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd without competitive bids.
