SHAH ALAM, 1 Apr: The Federal Government has been urged to take immediate action before the construction cost for KLIA 1 increases to RM5 billion.
The Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara, Tony Pua, said that it is time for Datuk Seri Najib Razak to give a message to all government-linked companies (GLCs) that he will not compromise with any management inefficiencies.
With a construction cost of over RM4 billion, the Managing Director of Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid, has been urge to be fired for incompetence in the construction of the Second Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA2).
He said with all the flaws with a cost of more than twice the original cost, Najib has no reason to remain silent.
“Over the past three years, the minister of transport and the upper management of MAHB has lied to all Malaysian taxpayers.
“MAHB has clearly shown inefficiency in addition to trying to hide mismanagement behind lies,” he said in a statement.
In July 2007, the Minister of Transport at the time, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, announced that the initial budget to build KLIA1 was RM1.7 billion, however this increased to RM2.5 billion in October 2010.
In November 2011, the cost for KLIA2 continued to soar to RM3.9 billion, and the latest, the Deputy Transport Minister, Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi, revealed that the cost for KLIA2 will be more than RM4 billion.
“In fact, Najib must act against the (Acting) Minister of Transport for failing to check MAHB’s stubbornness that the people need to bear the very high cost,” he said.
Previously, Bashir’s contact as the Managing Director of MAHB was extended twice although the cost for KLIA2 continued to increase and the opening date was delayed.
The opening date of KLIA2 was postponed at least five times from September 2011 to the latest date, 2 May 2014.
