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ACA Director-General should explain why ACA so unreasonable to demand halt of MRR2 flyover rectification imposing hardships on hundreds of thousands of people when ACA may take months or years to complete investigations with no conclusive end?
 


Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang

(Petaling Jaya, Friday): Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu’s high-handed and opaque  mishandling of the MRR2 Kepong flyover scandal  is giving the Abdullah premiership its  first bad name for dishonouring its general election pledge for humility, accountability, transparency and good governance which should be rectified  at the 58th  MIC General Assembly tomorrow – whether by Samy Vellu himself or the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. 

Malaysians, and in particular the hundreds of thousands affected by the MRR2 Kepong flyover closure, are entitled to know why a modern flyover which should be able to last 50 years without any structural problems, has to be closed within two years, who are the responsible parties for the negligence and their liabilities,  and what is being done to immediately rectify the flyover cracks so that it could be safely re-opened for use in the shortest possible time by the suffering public.

 

Today,   a civil and structural engineer of 40 years’ experience who had built  more than 200 bridges, Ng Boon Jieh, gave his professional opinion that if the MRR2 Kepong flyover cracks are not the result of design flaws,  then it would not need to cost RM20 million to repair and reinforce them.  (Nanyang Siang Pau)

 

Can Samy Vellu explain why the RM20 million repair cost for  the MRR2 Kepong flyover cracks  is commensurate with structural failures resulting from design flaws when he had  stubbornly maintained that the MRR2 Kepong flyover cracks are  not the result of design failure, and even threatening on behalf of the consultants that defamation proceedings could be instituted for such allegations?

 

Are we seeing a case where the repair costs are equivalent to design flaws although the causes are not structural as maintained by Samy Vellu?

 

If the causes of the flyover cracks are not structural because of design flaws, but the cost of the repair works are equivalent to that of rectification of design flaws, then it gives rise to legitimate suspicion that someone is trying to profiteer from  the MRR2 Kepong flyover scandal – something which should not be permissible in the Abdullah premiership committed to a national integrity system and an all-out war against corruption and all forms of abuses of power.

 

The Prime Minister should inform Malaysians, in particular the hundreds of thousands of people who are directly affected by the nightmarish traffic gridlock caused by the closure of the two-year-old MRR2 Kepong flyover, whether the Cabinet next week would decide on immediate repair or rectificiation of the cracked flyover so that it could be safely re-opened for use in the shortest possible time – after the Cabinet’s failure  to discuss the issue at its  meeting this Wednesday as earlier promised.

 

In this connection, there can be no justification for the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to demand continued halt of all repair or rectification work for the MRR2 Kepong flyover until it has completed investigations.

 

The ACA Director-General Datuk Seri Zulkipli Mat Noor should publicly explain why the ACA is so unreasonable in demanding a halt on all repair or rectification work on the MRR2 Kepong flyover cracks imposing hardships on hundreds of thousands of people affected by the flyover closure when ACA investigations should not hold back the repair or rectification work , especially when ACA can take months if not years to complete investigations with  no conclusive end whatsoever!

 

Can Zulkipli state how long more the ACA wants the Kepong flyover repairs halted until the ACA could take more photographs, when the cracks have already been patched up?  Is the ACA waiting for the cracks to open up again?

(20/8/2004)


* Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Member of Parliament for Ipoh Timor & DAP National Chairman