Rm21k Direct Tender For Free Book Raises Eyebrows

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Kota Anggerik assemblyperson Najwan Halimi has questioned the Economic Affairs Ministry’s direct tender award for a book that is available online for free
“What kind of book sells for RM21,022.86? The book purchased by the Economic Affairs Ministry for RM21,022.86 can be read for free online,” Najwan said on Twitter, while providing a link to the document
The contract for the book, A Better World Volume 5: Actions and Commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals, is among the 101 government contracts awarded without open tender by the Pakatan Harapan administration
The contract appears as the 95th item on a list of direct award contracts revealed by Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz today
The current International Trade and Industry Minister Azmin Ali was the Economic Affairs Minister at the time. The direct contract award would have needed to be signed off by then finance minister Lim Guan Eng
It is unclear how many copies of the book were purchased
However, digital editions of the 136-page book are available for free via the UN Human Settlements Program website, as well as the book’s publisher Tudor Rose
The link provided in Najwan’s tweet directs to a digital copy of the book that is hosted on the publisher’s website
Meanwhile, Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil pointed out on Facebook that former transport minister Anthony Loke had already addressed his ministry’s RM4.475 billion direct award to Dhaya Maju LTAT Sdn Bhd for the Phase 2 of the Klang Valley double-tracking project (KVDT2)
Fahmi provided excerpts of the Hansard on Loke’s explanation to Parliament on July 9, 2019
Loke (photo) explained that the Cabinet had decided to terminate the BN-era contract in September 2018, but had to reconsider when Dhaya Maju appealed and warned of legal consequences for the termination
“The company estimated that the compensation that would need to be paid by the government amounts to RM2.5 billion. Although the sum has not been verified, what is certain is there will be legal implications
“We took this in spirit that the government is open for renegotiation with the aim of reducing costs
“Through negotiation, we see that the company has offered to reduce costs by 15 percent, which is a savings of over RM700 million,” the Hansard quoted Loke as saying
He said the Cabinet then decided to give the company a second chance to continue the project at the reduced cost
“We know there are weaknesses and delays, and we will impose tighter conditions and monitor the conduct and operations of this company to ensure they will complete the project on schedule,” Loke said, in response to questions from Fahmi at the time
Fahmi had asked Loke to explain why such a large project was not broken up into smaller contracts to be openly tendered
He also asked why Dhaya Maju was allowed to continue the project despite being late in delivering its first phase, and having suffered several derailments
Meanwhile, Damansara MP Tony Pua said it is “unfreaking-believable” that Zafrul had included the KVDT2 project as among the projects awarded via direct tender under the Harapan administration
Pua (photo) noted the KVDT2 project alone amounts to two-thirds of the total amount that Zafrul accused Harapan of awarding via direct negotiation
“That's preposterous because the contract for KVDT2 was awarded by BN before Harapan took over
“Not only that, BN awarded the contract for RM5.265 billion. But we wanted to terminate the contract because we believed that it was overpriced, like typical BN contracts,” he said on Facebook
Pua, who was Lim’s political secretary when the latter was finance minister, also noted that Harapan’s negotiations had helped taxpayers save RM790 million
He also chided Azmin as well as Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin for claiming that the renegotiated contract was never tabled in the Cabinet
“Unsurprising perhaps, they must be sleeping on the job,” he said. - Mkini

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