Thursday, August 25, 2011

MRT: Bumi Quota

MRT Bumi quota shows NEM like NEP, say Pakatan leaders
By Boo Su-Lyn August 24, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — The 30 per cent Bumiputera quota for the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) construction packages shows that the New Economic Model (NEM) is no different than the New Economic Policy (NEP), Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers charge.

Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd (Prasarana) said yesterday that the nation’s largest construction project ever will have fixed reservations for Bumiputera.

The MRT is due to begin operations in January 2017.

“This proves beyond doubt that the NEM is not in the least bit different from the NEP,” DAP publicity chief Tony Pua told The Malaysian Insider last night.

“All the associated problems arising and related to the NEP over the past few decades — such as declining competitiveness, brain drain — will continue to be aggrieved, if not made worse, by such policies,” added the Petaling Jaya Utara MP.

Abdul Malik Azman, Prasarana’s head of the MRT Procurement Management Department, told The Malaysian Insider that the quota was part of the government’s “national agenda”.

The Malaysian Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry and also Malay rights groups had previously demanded Prasarana’s stringent contractors requirements were relaxed so that more Bumiputera companies qualified.

Read the full article at The Malaysian Insider here.

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