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DAP calls the
establishment of a Parliamentary Select Committee on Works to investigate
into all the construction scandals like the RM286 million MATRADE
Building, the RM238 million MRR2, the RM550 million Pandan Hospital, East
Coast Highway, the second collapse of North-South Expressway at Gua
Tempurong and to hold Works Ministry, JKR and all contractors of public
projects to higher standards of performance and accountability Speech - in Parliament on the Ministry of Works during the 2005 Budget by Lim Kit Siang (Dewan Rakyat, Wednesday): One of the pledges of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi when he became Prime Minister almost a year ago, and in the 11the general election in March this year, is an efficient, accountable, transparent and trustworthy government. It is therefore most disturbing that in the past one year, the reverse seems to be the case with more and more evidence that there is even less government efficiency, accountability, transparency and trustworthiness in the past year of the new administration. I am not just talking about corruption, with the most serious case of “money politics” in UMNO histpry in the recent UMNO General Assembly, which is now followed up with “Datuk politics” and “titles politics”, but higher standards and benchmarks for Ministries, government departments and public projects. The Works Ministry and the Public Works Department have emerged tops among Ministries and departments most guilty in failing to live up to higher public expectations about greater efficiency, accountability and transparency – which is evidenced by the recent series of construction scandals, like the RM286 million MATRADE Building, the RM238 million MRR2, the RM550 million Pandan Hospital, East Coast Highway and the second collapse of North-South Expressway at Gua Tempurong on Monday night. The most shocking new development in the past year is the denial of responsibility and accountability in all these construction scandals - whether it be the MRR2, the Pandan Hospital, East Coast Highway, MATRADE or the second North-South Expressway Gua Tempurong collapse. PLUS Expressway Bhd, for instance, has fully adopted the notorious excuse of the Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu that “it is an Act of God” with regard to the latest North-South Expressway Gua Tempurong collapse. Sin Chew Daily today carries the following headline of the PLUS denial of responsibility: “Gua Tempurong – Accident, Act of God. PLUS company not need to bear responsibility”. This is a most irresponsible claim by PLUS, especially after the earlier landslide at Gua Tempurong in 1996, which claimed one life and the Bukit Lanjan landslide in November last year. Utusan Malaysia today reported that:
Utusan Malaysia also reported that:
The time has come for the establishment of a Parliamentary Select Committee on Works to investigate into all the construction scandals like the RM286 million MATRADE Building, the RM238 million MRR2, the RM550 million Pandan Hospital, East Coast Highway, the second collapse of North-South Expressway at Gua Tempurong and to hold Works Ministry, JKR and all contractors of public projects to higher standards of performance and accountability. We just cannot accept the excuses such as “Act of God” for all the man-made failures, whether the Works Ministry, the JKR or the contractors. If we are serious about making the Malaysian Parliament a First-World Parliament with a wide-ranging exercise in parliamentary reform and modernization, Parliament should not be reacting to individual failures of government efficiency, accountability, transparency and trustworthiness, but must play a proactive role as reviewing what the Works Ministry, the JKR and the North-South Expressway concessionaire should be doing to ensure that the expressway is safe and comfortable for all users. |