In his latest statement to the media yesterday, Minister Fadillah Yusof continued to claim that the Kidex project was above board and have adhered to all procedures. His claim may satisfy the contents and conditions of the Concession Agreement that has been signed between the Federal Government and Kidex Sdn Bhd, but the minister is wrong to completely ignore the 3 conditions imposed by the Selangor State Government in order for this project to even be considered.
The 3 conditions were namely:
- The concessionaire, Kidex, must provide a traffic impact and other relevant studies demonstrating substantial benefit for commuters in terms of reducing traffic congestion and travel time.
- There must be full transparency on the rate of return of the highway including the toll rates to be charged. This is to ensure that there will be no astronomical profits for the concessionaire and unfair burden on the users.
- In line with the transparency and accountability practice of the Selangor state government, Azmin Ali also demanded that the concession agreement must be fully disclosed to the public, not just the Menteri Besar and the State Legal Advisers as requested by Kidex.
While the Federal Government through the Malaysian Highway Authority (Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia) may have set their own conditions, Selangor is within its own rights to set any condition deemed fit to protect the interest of its people. This is despite the fact that we are all not privy the Concession Agreement, with its accompanying condition, as it is classified as a secret document.
Even the Minister has conceded to this when, back in November 2014, he made statements that were covered in the media1 that the final approval of Kidex Highway would come from the Selangor Government and Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ).
In deciding on Kidex, Selangor is within its rights to set any condition deemed fit to protect the interest of the state and its citizens. The Minister must not forget this in dealing with the issue at hand.
While the Minister is acting within his rights to seek advice from the Attorney-General’s Chambers, he must also answer why is the Federal Government making so much effort to circumvent the conditions set by the Selangor Government to uphold transparency in the matter of the Kidex Highway.
The minister should instead be channeling his energy and efforts to ensure that Concession Agreements and financial projections, including the proposed toll rates and projected revenue and profit returns, of all proposed highways, are classified as public information from here on out, rather than looking for ways to overcome the lack of approval from Selangor.