KOTA KINABALU: The Democratic Action Party (DAP) yesterday jumped on the bandwagon to support Kalabakan MP, Datuk Abdul Ghapur Salleh in demanding that contracts for the multi-billion Pan Borneo Highway be given to local companies from east Malaysia.
DAP Sabah chairman cum Kota Kinabalu MP, Jimmy Wong Sze Phin, and DAP Sabah deputy chairman cum Sandakan MP, Stephen Wong Tien Fatt, said Sabahans should be allowed to bid for the project through competitive tenders and not reduced to fighting for scraps.
The duo said, they, like Ghapur, strongly object to the awarding of the said contracts to crony companies from Peninsular Malaysia, especially if they are awarded through direct negotiation.
“We call on the Prime Minister to call for an open tender for the Sabah portion of the project and to include the requirement that Sabah based companies must be part of any consortium bidding for the contract.
“We do not want Sabah companies to pick up scraps from the table by being sub-contractors to Peninsular Malaysian companies, who will reap most of the profits from the contract,” they said, in a written statement issued during a press conference in the Parliament lobby in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
This came after Ghapur, who, when debating the Budget 2015 in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday, said that the deal was akin to robbing Sabahans as peninsular-based companies were again profiting from a project that should have been given to local companies instead.
The Umno parliamentarian said the Pan Borneo Highway should be awarded to Sabahans to benefit the state economy, and called on the Prime Minister to look into allegation that the contract has been given to tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary.
The DAP representatives also echoed Ghapur’s call, saying news reports indicated that Syed Mokhtar’s company, UEM-MMC, were the front runners to win the Sabah portion of the Pan Borneo Highway contract.
“This kind of direct negotiation is totally unacceptable and inconsistent with the open tender process called for under the Government Transformation Program (GTP). All the details for this construction project, including costs and payments for delays, must be made public.
“If these reports are true, we call on the Prime Minister and his cabinet to immediately put a stop to the signing of such a contract,” said the two, adding that they also strongly object to the awarding of the contract to operate the Pan Borneo Highway to a peninsular concessionaire.
The (DAP) Wongs said, Sabahans should not be made to suffer like ‘fools’ by firstly, allowing a Peninsular Malaysia based consortium to enjoy most, if not all, of the profits from the construction of the Pan Borneo Highway, and secondly, by allowing toll charges to be imposed on poor Sabahans so that a Peninsular Malaysia based toll concessionaire can enjoy exorbitant profits.
“As we have seen in Peninsular Malaysia, the toll concessionaires such as UEM-PLUS have raked in billions of ringgit in profits from toll payments long after they have recouped the construction costs.
“We do not want Sabahans to suffer the same fate by paying for tolls all their lives, especially since Sabah remains the poorest state in Malaysia,” they quipped.