KUCHING, Feb 9: Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Chong Chieng Jen must learn how to differentiate between Sarawak being forced to agree to a decision versus a federal minister plucking figures out of thin air to claim imaginary savings, asserts Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) chief whip Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.
In a statement today, Fadillah disclosed that while it is true that the secretary of the Sarawak government signed with the federal government to terminate the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) agreement for the Pan Borneo Highway Sarawak project, what choice did Sarawak have when it had to choose between signing the agreement to cancel and not receiving any of the pre-agreed funding for the project to continue.
“This is the same situation where Sarawak was arm-twisted into paying the RM1 billion advance payment in stages to the federal government before the project to repair dilapidated schools by the latter could begin despite this RM1 billion amount already being approved in Budget 2018 under the previous Barisan Nasional government,” Fadillah revealed.
The former Works Minister also told Chong not to be confused by Democratic Action Party (DAP) secretary-general and Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s ‘misleading’ statement that the cancellation of the Pan Borneo Sarawak PDP contract will lead to savings of RM3.1 billion cost, from RM21.9 billion to RM18.8 billion.
Fadillah pointed out that it was confirmed by Works Minister Baru Bian in Parliament on March 26, 2019, the original targeted cost of the project was RM16.48 billion.
“Subsequent to that, the PDP was able to further reduce that cost to RM15.13 billion via cost optimisation and efficiency savings while still maintaining the original project completion date of end of 2021. Until its cancellation, there has never been any accusation that the PDP was late in its project delivery or had gone above budget.
“So how can the newly announced cost of RM18.8 billion be considered a reduction of RM3.1 billion from the previous cost of RM15.13 billion?” Fadillah questioned, adding that on the contrary, it is an increase in cost of RM3.67 billion.
With the cancellation of the PDP model and the changes announced by Lim, Fadillah warned that the Pan Borneo Sarawak project now runs a real risk of being delayed from its original targeted date of end of 2021 and the risk of the project’s cost being much higher than the current RM15.13 billion targeted cost.
“When that happens, all Sarawakians should know that Chong is equally responsible,” Fadillah said. — DayakDaily
