Utter stupidity in Selangor Government Asset Management
Greed has cost the Rakyat of Selangor RM 3.28 billion
Murray Hunter
An estimated RM 30 million upgrade of the Stadium Shah Alam has been turned into an unnecessary RM 3.28 billion commercial development on the soon to be demolished Stadium Shah Alam site. This unpopular project, where both Selangor citizens and civil servants are in fear of criticizing due to the threats of being sued for defamation, or even investigated for sedition, has been pushed through by collusion of the elite in Selangor (this means both sides of the political spectrum).
The Selangor JKR estimated repairs to the Stadium Shah Alam would cost around RM 20 million. Yet, the state government is about to commit to an RM 3.28 billion redevelopment of the site, that will actually downscale the sports facilities in favour of building hotels, commercial and shopping complexes that cronies can benefit from.
No consideration has been given to maintaining one of Malaysia’s sports and entertainment icons, where it could have been totally updated and modernized for around RM 100 million.
Instead, Malaysians will get a much smaller stadium, with less parking available, losing a landmark that many are proud of. The Selangor government is destroying a legacy, not a stadium.
Instead of seeking RM 29 million from Federal development funds, the Selangor Government has decided to demolish the stadium totally, and swap RM 3.28 billion worth of prime state land to a company to develop into a commercial complex, which the managing state agency, Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) has not even done any financial analysis upon.
To spend RM 35 million to demolish a stadium that would have cost RM 20 million to repair just doesn’t make any sense.
There are just too many irregularities that make this whole deal look suspicious. The Edge Malaysia reported that a contract had been signed between MBI and the Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) on February 6. At the time, the signing was purported to be just an MOU. This MOU was about the development of the site. The Edge also reported no deal for the development has been reached between MBI and MRCB for the actual development.
