Ong Tee Keat knee-jerk reaction to reject a cost-benefit analysis of shutting down the Port Klang Free Zone to save the Government a further RM8.6 billion unhelpful to “make sure that the interest of the people are fully protected and that this Government walks the talk.”
The Minister of Transport, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has on 28th May stated that the Government needs to “seriously act on the findings of the report to make sure that the interest of the people are fully protected and that this Government walks the talk.”
Unfortunately, the DAP's suggestion for the Government to consider and to do a cost-benefit analysis of shutting down the scandalous Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project which will cost the Government a further injection of RM8.6 billion of funds to keep alive, has been rejected by the Minister in a knee-jerk reaction.
Based on the latest existing cashflow forecast provided by the Port Klang Authority (PKA) to PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC) for their evaluation, PKA will be suffering a cashflow shortfall for the next 33 years until 2042. By 2029, it will have cumulative cashflow deficit amounting to RM3.56 billion.
This shortfall will require additional and restructured financing, which will result in an additional RM5 billion spent on interest payments. Hence the total additional burden the Government will have to bear will amount to RM8.56 billion. This amount can only be repaid by the year 2051, and that's assuming that the forecast provided by PKA has not been overly optimistic!
Which investor in the world, whether private or government would even consider taking part in such an investment with 33 years of cash shortfall, and that's not even talking about accounting profit which may take even longer to realise?
Therefore it will be an act of ultimate irresponsibility for Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat to immediately rule out shutting down PKFZ, and to pursue the project at all cost even if it is at the expense of the people he claims to want to protect.
Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat today announced that “closing down PKFZ as suggested by opposition is clearly a knee jerk reaction which spells of political agenda and defeatist attitude.”
Shutting down PKFZ as it is envisioned today allows the Government to start with a fresh sheet of paper, after salvaging whatever remaining assets in PKA and PKFZ and minimising the losses and commitment of the Government.
Our suggestion to consider closing down PKFZ certainly spells of a “political agenda” to ensure the tax payers are not ripped off. On the other hand, Ong's knee jerk outright rejection however, smacks of wanton recklesses in handling public funds.
Ong claims that he is “not sitting still and playing rhetoric” but up until the report was publicly released recently, we have never seen any concrete steps or measures taken by the Ministry of Transport or PKA to salvage the situation since he has been appointed as the Minister after 14 months.
All we are still hearing is the rhetoric that “professional experts and entrepreneurs have been roped in” or “let the financial consultants and management experts work out a more viable solution”. Ong has not shown us a concrete plan which can possibly be more beneficial to the tax-payers than shutting down PKFZ, salvaging its assets and starting from a fresh sheet.
10 comments:
OTK is having good time in China now,how the hell he care??.....I'm just wonder if he ever read the report or should I say if he has issue of understand the contain of the report. Maybe should ask DAP colleague to translate one set of report in to mandrin that might help him understand batter.... Shame on u OTK you should step down now!!!!
To Tony keep up this great job, we support you!!! Stop this money sucking project!
Well, they have gotten away with 6 billion so far and no one is really fuming mad at them. UMNO is relaxed and indifferent ( a large slice is UMNO's). So since no one is calling for their head, might as well grab a couple more billions. Alang2 menyeluk pekasam, biar sampai ke pangkal lengan, might be their motto now.
Um.. China. KTV. China dolls. OTK. Um..... Sure OTK is very happy in China now. Who wouldn't?
Anon 1:34pm
Do you read and write mandarin ?
YB Tony,
Did you saw that ?
Obama is my man. The first America President to quote on Quran. And greet with Assalamualaikum
Obama did greeted with "assalamualailum", wonder where is pewaris or those pekida fellows.
Shutting down the PKFZ meltdown is a good temporary measure to evaluate while looking at ways to fix things up.Those companies overcharging PKFZ must be frozen , all its directors and government servants involved must be barred from leaving the country for the time being.
So far no actions nor even a good reaction.
This is a serious OTK's MCA matter. I'm not sure he has the will.
as usual, bn or mca will twist & turn all the words. should follow the toyota way - stop the bleeding now. what otk is arguing is to con't to let pkfz bleed, in the meantime they can pump & suck at the same time, if you know what i mean. if no more bleeding, no more pumping, no more sucking. simple as that. a good doctor will stop the patient from bleeding, analyse & treat. a busuk doctor will let the patient bleed, but charge the patient for the continuous rounds of blood to feed the ailing patient. so the patient not only suffers but also at the mercy at the busuk doctor. no need to say who is the good doctor & who is the busuk doctor here.
Closing down a project sound easy when looking from outside. I work in a MNC that 5 years ago were in the situation that if the founder decided to cash in & let the company folded, he would be pocketing Billions and 16K employee will be out of job. Instead he dumped all he had in the company to guarantee its debt. The rest is history.
No offence Tony, when you servere your tie with the company you have founded you did left those investors in SG high & dried as well as those who had work for & with you.
May be worthwhile for you to come up with an alternative instead of shouting in the sidelines & happing on folding down an organisation. It is much difficult to cure than to kill. Only those who have the guts & tenacity choose the difficult route instead of a quick way out.
put it this way, the top guns on top are getting the icing & the cake. the ones working in pkfz - whoever they are - would be few & they could be easily relocated to other pka ops like north or west port. the fact is that billions will be wasted to keep a few guys on the job??? c'mon. these guys are mca-men. don't forget. they are not in the poverty zone. the billions saved will go to the poverty of thousands. the past 2 transport ministers & cronies - incl. backbencher club head - all had a hand in this mother of all malaysian financial scandals.
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