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MRR2 Kepong Flyover Fiasco - Clean, accountable and transparent? Media Statement by Dr Tan Seng Giaw (Kuala Lumpur, Thursday): Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu announced the partial closure of the raised highway --- the Kepong flyover, Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR2)---on 21 May, 2004, followed by the total closure on 8 August, 2004. Once there are flaws in the structure, it is correct to stop the traffic. But, hundreds of thousands of people suffer. During rush hours, roads such as Jalan Kepong and Jalan Kuching become car parks.  What has gone wrong with this RM238.8 million project? When did the Public Works Department (PWD) begin to notice cracks on the piers of the RM100 million flyover? Are there design flaws in this ‘design and build’ turnkey project? Has the PWD issued the Certificate of Practical Compliance? How does the investigation by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) delay the repair works? Why 3 months of repair, not 6 or 1 months?   MRR2 was the missing link in the traffic dispersal scheme. For about three years, hundreds of thousands of road-users bore with the inconvenience during works on the project. Once it was completed, there was a better flow of traffic from Kepong to Batu Caves and Selayang. Nearly two years later, the closure of the flyover has made people unhappy, feeling unsafe even to drive below the structure.   Why should there be cracks in 32 out of 33 piers supporting the flyover? There is a difference in opinion between the German consultant appointed by the PWD and the Australian consultant engaged by the contractor Bumihiway. The Government should make public the reports of the two consultants respectively. It should ask the Institute of Engineers Malaysia to appoint a truly independent local consultant to ascertain the causes of the flaws.   On 11 August, 2004, the Works Minister said: “We can stop all repair works until they (ACA) complete their investigation…however, if this happens, we will not be able to re-open the highway in three months.”   The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has initiated the campaign for a clean, incorruptible, accountable, transparent, efficient and people-friendly government. Hence the public expect this campaign to be applicable to the management of this scandal of MRR2 Kepong flyover. (19/8/2004) * Dr Tan Seng Giaw, DAP National Vice-Chairman and MP for Kepong