(Oct 27): Putrajaya will allegedly award a RM8.2 billion contract for the construction of the UiTM Puncak Alam hospital to a company held by an Umno-linked businessman, says Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli, when the construction cost is only RM599 million.

Debating Budget 2016, the PKR lawmaker wanted Putrajaya to reveal if the information he received was true.

“The (construction) cost is RM599 million, but through the privatisation agreement of this concession, the government has to pay RM8.2 billion.

“Whose money is this? This is our GST money,” he said, referring to the goods and services tax by its abbreviation. Putrajaya rolled out GST in April and is projected to collect RM27 billion.

The prominent corporate figure was also behind the concessionaire which was awarded the contract to construct the UiTM campus in Puncak Alam, and that company was allegedly being sued by one of its contractors over problems to complete the project, added Rafizi.

Rafizi said he also checked and received information that although the contractor was suing the concessionaire, he was informed of an alleged directive from the Finance Ministry that UiTM should compensate the contractor.

“This is why we never have enough money. It is bad enough concession agreements are one-sided, and now there is the problem of the contractor suing the concessionaire and UiTM has to pay for it,” he said.

Rafizi questioned why the company, which already has problems in completing the campus project, was now awarded the contract to build the hospital. – The Malaysian Insider