RM16m paid to seven NKEA lab consultants

By Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the government paid a total of RM16 million to seven consultant companies which assisted in handling 12 National Key Economic Area (NKEA) laboratories.

He said the payment was made through the Performance Management and Implementation Unit (Pemandu) under the Prime Minister’s Department.

The prime minister said the total amount was small compared to the spending by the governments of United Kingdom, France and the United States for their own transformation programmes. 

Only eight per cent out of the overall investment in financing the NKEA projects under the Economic Transformation Programme would be financed by the government, he said.

“The private sector will pay 92 per cent of the investment,” Najib said in his written reply to Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh) in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Kok wanted to know the cost breakdown for NKEA laboratories including payment to the consultants and the percentage of NKEA projects proposed to be financed by the government and the private sector. — Bernama