PETALING JAYA - The authorities should make public the details surrounding the Rawang-Ipoh double tracking project, says Klang MP Charles Santiago.

While the Public Accounts Committee has given an assurance that it would conduct a thorough probe, the public must first know who are involved in this project, he said.

Allocations made to the contractors, names of politicians involved, terms in which contracts were awarded and concrete reasons for the delay should be revealed to the public, he said in a press statement.

Accountability paramount

He said the issue came on the heels of the Port Klang Free Zone fiasco. The 2008 Auditor-General’s report had stated cost overruns exceeding RM1.3bil in the 179km rail double tracking project.

"Whatever happened to accountability? We thought the Port Klang Free Zone scandal was the last of the financial fraud running into billions of ringgit?" said Santiago.

The original contract value of the railway project was RM4.34bil but it has since escalated by RM1.43bil to RM5.77bil as at December 2008.

"Both mega projects have already cost the nation about RM14bil or every Malaysian RM520. This does not include losses from direct negotiations of contracts estimated at RM28bil as revealed by a local newspaper," said Santiago.

The government must take stern action and punish the culprits to regain the confidence of the public and investors, he said.

Heavy price to pay

Santiago said there were irregularities involving Emrail Sdn Bhd, the railway engineering specialist signed on as one of the sub-contractors in the project.

Quoting the Auditor-General’s report, Santiago said Emrail Sdn Bhd had only completed 56.9% of the project given the deadline of Dec 10,  2003. 

The government might now have to absorb part of the RM1.14bil loss brought about by delays in implementation, not keeping to the standards imposed in the infrastructural development leading to the infrastructure not being fully optimised and the procurement of extra equipment and coaches.

DRB-Hicom was the original contractor of the project but the contract was terminated because it failed to complete the package.

The project was subsequently delivered by UEM Construction Sdn Bhd. After multiple delays, the project, which was supposed to be completed in 2002,  was finally finished in January last year.