Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong has been making baseless allegations that I helped a company in Penang, Ideal Property, secure a private financing initiative(PFI) in the expansion project of the Penang International Airport(PIA). Wee could not reveal any letter from me when I was Finance Minister directing MAHB to give such an award to Ideal Property.
Instead, Wee relies on a letter submitted by Ideal Property to MAHB expressing their interest in the expansion project. Something is very wrong with the mental logic of Wee if a letter expressing interest by a company in a project is an evidence of wrongdoing.
This is an act of political desperation by Wee to avoid responsibility for betraying Penangites by terminating the RM800 million PIA expansion project, pending the National Airport Strategic Plan (NASP) study due for completion only in 2023. Apart from the lack of evidence against me, Wee forgets four important institutional and procedural aspects by PH that appears to be abandoned by the current PN government.
One, the Finance Ministry under PH implements open tenders on major public infrastructure projects. Despite insinuations by Wee, no company was given an exclusive right to expand the PIA through a negotiated tender whether by MAHB or by the Transport Ministry under Loke Siew Fook.
Two, MAHB had applied for planning permission for the PIA expansion project under its own name to the Penang Island City Council. This indicates that MAHB intended to undertake the project either on their own or with private partners through private financing initiative, which MAHB would have to select through open tenders. Planning permission has already been approved by the Penang Island City Council.
Three, MAHB is a listed public company under Bursa Malaysia and is subjected to stringent regulatory rules. Its ownership profile include significant stakes by foreign partners, who would object to negotiated tenders against their own financial interest.
Four, PH appointed independent professionals and experts to the Board of Directors to MAHB, including former Federal Court judge Tan Sri Datuk Zainun Ali as Chairperson. The Board of Directors, not the Finance Ministry, would have to approve any award of contracts which would have to be by open tenders. The present PN government reversed this institutional reform by appointing politicians to the Board of MAHB.
These 4 factors and the lack of evidence clearly shows that Wee Ka Siong is an inferior Transport Minister compared to Loke Siew Fook for failing to understand the role of Malaysia Airports Holding Bhd(MAHB) as a public company listed in Bursa Malaysia.
Wee is only intent on victimizing Penang by terminating projects such as the expansion of the PIA approved by PH. This is the reason that Penang DAP has launched a mass signature campaign (see www.dappg.org/4projects) to reinstate this PIA expansion project terminated by Wee and the PN government.