Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Minister: PKFZ not a 'white elephant' - Malaysiakini

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid | May 6, 08 6:38pm

The Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project is not a ‘white elephant’, said newly appointed Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat.

After visiting the somewhat deserted RM 4.6 billion multi-purpose site today and going through official documents, Ong believed that everything was in order as far as the implementation of the project is concerned.

"Allegations that PKFZ is a ‘white elephant’ project is not correct. In the name of transparency, I would like to give the public a better picture about the project," he told reporters.

On April 10, Ong promised that he would investigate the matter, which veteran DAP leader Lim Kit Siang described as a "scandal." Yesterday, Lim said five aspects must be probed:

• Whether the cabinet had approved the Port Klang Authority (PKA) and Transport Ministry to buy 1,000 acres of Pulau Indah land for PKFZ at an grossly inflated price

• Whether the cost of PKFZ had ballooned from RM1.1 billion to RM4.6 billion

• Whether the previous transport ministers had dubiously issued four letters of support, acting as government guarantee, to Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd to raise RM4 billion bonds

• Whether former transport ministers had created a RM4.6 billion liability for the government in the "bailout" of PKFZ

• Whether previous transport ministers would be probed over the incident

For details: www.malaysiakini.com

1 comment:

CHee XtheMan said...

Dato Ong Tee Keat, i still call you dato because i still believe you are not one of them. Pl tell the truth story, disclosed this scandal to public.

At the moment indeed PKFZ IS AN WHITE ELEPHANT. With 4.6 billions already spend, and what is the goodies rakyat gets ? I can only see "corruption" here.