DAP is shocked that the RM365 million Integrated Transport Information System (ITIS) launched by the Federal Government to solve Kuala Lumpur’s traffic congestion problem in 2002 has completely failed and required an additional tender of RM 200 million this year to rescue and revive the traffic management system. The new RM 200 million project was awarded this year to GTC Global Sdn Bhd, which has since been taken over by Telekom Malaysia Bhd.
In other words, about RM 565 million will have been spent on a traffic management system that failed when similar systems in other countries such as Singapore or Hong Kong are successful. This begs the question why other countries can succeed whilst ours fail despite spending hundreds of millions of ringgit.
Penang has been contemplating some form of traffic management system to manage our traffic congestion after being approached by several vendors. However, we have preferred to see how ITIS functions and operates. Its monumental losses and abject failure has caused the Penang state government to pause and adopt a wait and see attitude to see whether how well ITIS can, if at all, functions.
However, Malaysians cannot afford to adopt a wait and see attitude towards those responsible for the RM 565 million ITIS scandal. There must not only be full accountability and transparency but the Federal government must be unforgiving and punish severely the wrongdoers who wasted public funds on a system that simply failed to work. Failure to act shows that integrity falls prey to cronies and justice falls victim to power.