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Last Updated: 10:36am, Mar 07, 2014

WHEN I had criticised the Energy Commission in the statements I made last month with regards to the award of the new 2,000MW coal-fired power plant “Project 3B” to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (KeTTHA) openly condemned my comments as “baseless and mere speculation”.

I had accused the Government of intending to make the award to 1MDB despite it not submitting the lowest bid for the tender to supply electricity to Tenaga Nasional (TNB) based on earlier reports by The Edge Financial Daily.  However on 28th February, KeTTHA confirmed my “baseless speculation” that 1MDB is indeed awarded the new Independent Power Producer (IPP) power plant concession.

The latest news on the same newspaper on its Wednesday, 5 March edition two days ago frontpaged a new story that 1MDB is changing the terms of its original bid for Project 3B by moving the location of the power plant from Jimah, Negeri Sembilan to a new site in Pulau Indah, Selangor.  The alleged 310 acre site in Pulau Indah was only acquired by 1MDB on 21 February for RM317 million.

I had criticised the land acquisition earlier by 1MDB because it was priced at RM23.50 per square feet (psf), 137% higher than the last valuation conducted in August 2011 for RM9.93psf.  More suspiciously, the land was acquired from Tadmax Resources Bhd, formerly known as Wijaya Baru Global Bhd.  This is the same group which sold the adjacent piece of land in Pulau Indah to Port Klang Authority (PKA) and undertook the scandalous RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project.

Now, with the latest expose that 1MDB has purchased the land at the last minute, exactly a week before the official award for the RM11 billion Project 3B was made, will KeTTHA once again claim that the report by The Edge Financial Daily is “baseless and mere speculation”?

Or will it once again be proven correct that 1MDB has been allowed to make major amendments to their bid for Project 3B in direct contravention to the terms and conditions of the open tender conducted last year?

The timing of the hurried land acquisition at such a high price by 1MDB and the subsequent award of Project 3B to the company raises public suspicions that the regulator, the EC are colluding and acting in connivance with 1MDB.

The question hence arises – were the goalposts shifted both during and after the evaluation by the KeTTHA in order to justify and ensure that the 1MDB, which is facing financial difficulties, will win the concession?  The Government cannot blame the rakyat for thinking that this is a clear-cut desperate attempt to prop up 1MDB, which is labouring under a mountain of debt estimated in excess of RM30 billion.

It has become a clear case that the EC is failing to protect the interest of the rakyat, and has placed the interest of 1MDB ahead of its constituted responsibilities.  As a result, not only will the man-on-the street suffer higher electricity prices, both the foreign and local business communities will lose faith and confidence in the Najib administration in carrying out independent and fair tender evaluation exercises, because they are just a sham to legitimise the award of contracts to the BN cronies and other vested interests.

I hope that the report by The Edge is indeed “baseless speculation”.  However, if not, the the Energy Commission chairman and Chief Executive must resign as they have failed to carry out their fiduciary duties while acting in concert with an energy supplier to subvert a fair and transparent open tender exercise.

Tony Pua is DAP’s MP for Petaling Jaya Utara and National Publicity Secretary

For more stories, go to www.fz.com, the website for freedom of expression and fairness in articulation.


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