By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, May 6: It was a tit-for-tat of sorts between Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Lambir assemblyman Ripin Lamat and Democratic Action Party (DAP) Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong.
While Yong raised the issue of RM50 million consultation fee paid for the RM11 billion Coastal Road and Second Trunk Road projects, Ripin shot back by quoting RM305 million paid to a consultant by the Penang government for the latter’s RM6.3 billion underwater tunnel project.
“She (Yong) was questioning about the consultation fee of RM50 million for the RM11 billion Coastal Road and Second Trunk Road.
“The Minister of Finance, when he was the Chief Minister, appointed a consultant with a fee of RM305 million for the undersea tunnel project costing RM6.3 billion.
“You just imagine, this company is a privately owned company. It does not belong to the government. So, which government is that? This is the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government,” said Ripin when debating the TYT’s speech at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly today.
He said Yong had portrayed the Sarawak government as “crude, corrupt and so on”, which he warned were serious allegations.
Meanwhile, Ripin also lambasted Sarawak PH chairman Chong Chieng Jen for trying to play up the sentiment in the media and on social media.
“Everyday, he goes down to the media and publishes it (his comments) in the newspaper and posts it on social media just to cover up his own failures to bring more funds and development to the state and his failures to fulfil the manifesto,” said Ripin.
Yong had on May 2 questioned the Sarawak government’s decision to spend an “outrageous” amount of money on a project management consultant for the state’s RM11 billion Coastal Road network and Second Trunk Road projects.
She claimed that the state government had appointed a consultancy arm of an asset management and infrastructure solutions company as the project management consultant (PMC) in a deal worth RM50 million for the initial package of the projects estimated to be completed in phases over 10 years. — DayakDaily
