Dr M’s public transport projects were all bailed out — Lim Sian See

(MMO) – There were four major KL public transportation projects initiated by Mahathir.

The four are:

1. KL Monorail line

– The privatised monorail project was approved in a cabinet meeting June 1989. Its cost was then estimated at RM143 million. When eventually completed and opened, it cost RM1.18 billion in 2003.

– went bankrupt.

– Bailed-out and taken over by the govt-owned Prasarana in 2007 for RM882 million.

2. The Putra LRT line

– The privatised line started operations in 1998.

– went bankrupt.

– Bailed-out and taken over by the govt-owned Prasarana in 2002 for between RM4.5 billion to RM5.7 billion.

3. The STAR LRT line

– The privatised line started operations in 1996.

– went bankrupt.

– Bailed-out and taken over by the govt-owned Prasarana in 2002 for RM3.3 billion.

4. Intrakota Bus Services

– The privatised bus services started operations in 1998.

– went bankrupt.

– Bailed-out and taken over by the govt-owned Prasarana in 2003 for RM177 million.

All four major KL public transportation projects initiated by Mahathir were given to private companies via concessions and then promptly went bankrupt.

The govt had to bail ALL of Mahathir’s projects out.

Compare this to Najib’s transportation projects LRT1 extension, LRT2 extension and now the recently launched MRT 1 SBK, which are all in the hands of the government, do not have concession agreements that require periodic fee increases and were all delivered either on time and on budget or ahead of time and below budget.