Pua defends Daim from minister’s attack on ECRL issue

PJ Utara MP Tony Pua says Minister in PM’s Dept Rahman Dahlan shouldn’t deflect the issue and answer ex-finance minister’s question if ECRL is loan or investment.

(FMT) – Tony Pua says Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan should not be disingenuous in his response to Daim Zainuddin by asking irrelevant questions on the former finance minister’s statement on the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL).

In a statement today, the Petaling Jaya Utara MP defended Daim, saying he had only asked if the construction of the RM55 billion project was a loan or an investment.

On Sunday, Daim had questioned whether the government had to repay the cost of the ECRL project, which will reportedly be funded through a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China. He suggested it was actually a loan and not an investment as claimed by Putrajaya.

In response, Rahman, who is in charge of the Economic Planning Unit, had retorted in a statement yesterday asking: “Would Daim and PPBM be happier if foreigners own and operate the ECRL instead?”

“The question isn’t whether former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad or Daim or any Malaysian for that matter, would ‘be happier if foreigners own and operate the ECRL instead’.

“Malaysians would ‘be happier’ if the ECRL project was tendered openly and competitively so that our taxpayers will receive best value for our ringgit.

“Why was a infrastructure project of this magnitude awarded directly without any competitive tender? Hence, it begs the question – who will really profit from this contract?” Pua asked.

Rahman had also said that though the government chose the financing path taken for the ECRL project, it would still retain full control over the project.

“The government had made it clear with our numerous answers in Parliament and statements on the ECRL that the project is a domestic investment funded with a soft loan from China with very favourable rates that are lower than the government’s cost of funds,” he said.

However, Pua, who is DAP national publicity secretary said that Rahman’s response clearly showed that he was once again trying to deflect from the real issue.

“He is trying to deflect questions and criticisms of the RM55 billion ECRL project by painting it as ‘a domestic investment with foreign funding’.

“The fact of the matter is that ECRL is indeed an infrastructure project which is funded with foreign debt.

“Prime Minister Najib Razak and many in his cabinet have often used the project as a successful example of Malaysia’s ability to attract sizeable investments from China,” Pua said.

He added that Daim was merely trying to correct that perception, by saying that these large infrastructure projects are not “investments” from China, but are effectively huge debts which have to be repaid by Malaysians in the future.

Pua also brought up the issue of the feasibility study by the government-appointed engineering consultants, HSS Integrated (HSSI), saying the company had estimated in December 2015 that the project’s value was RM29 billion (RM53.2 million per km), whereas China-owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) was awarded the contract at RM55 billion (RM91.7 million per km).

“We have demanded for the HSSI feasibility study to be publicly disclosed and Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai has promised in Parliament in November last year to ‘publish’ the report when it is ‘finalised’.

“However, the HSSI report remains a secret document with the Barisan Nasional government.”