Yesterday, the Malay Mail Online reported that Kidex Sdn Bhd has agreed to reveal details of its highway concession agreement only to the Selangor government, and not the general public.
“We are prepared to publicly disclose the concession agreement, but only to the Selangor MB and state legal advisers,” Kidex Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Shaharizuan Shafiei.
This is in response to state Menteri Besar Azmin Ali’s recent demand that the developer of the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) publicly disclose its concession deal if it wants Selangor to even consider reviewing the project.
Kidex’s failure to comply with the clear and strict conditions by the Selangor government would automatically mean that the highway project will not even be considered for approval, much less be given the approval to proceed.
In the MB’s first official visit to Petaling Jaya on Oct 31, 2014, he had outlined clearly the terms by which Kidex and any other new highways have to comply before being given consideration by the state government.
The MB had said that the Selangor government is not against the construction of highways, but that any highway to be built must prove itself beneficial to the rakyat. As such, certain conditions must be met, including:
- The concessionaire must provide a traffic impact and other relevant studies demonstrating substantial benefit for commuters in terms of reducing traffic congestion and travel time.
As such, should Kidex fail to comply with these conditions which has been formally informed to both the Malaysian Highway Authority as well as the concessionaire by the stipulated Feb 14 deadline, then Kidex has hammered its own nail on its coffin.
At the same time, we urge the federal government to reject Kidex’s request to extend the deadline again since it is unable to fulfil the conditions stipulated by the state, and hence, automatically fails to fulfil the conditions precedent of the highway concession agreement.
'SNTK's own half-truths and lies'
On a related matter, Pakatan elected representatives - Gobind Singh Deo, R Sivarasa, R Rajiv, Yeo Bee Yin and myself - had attended the ‘Say No to Kidex’ (SNTK) rally yesterday to listen to the voices of the people.
Unfortunately, certain leaders of the SNTK committee who accused Pakatan elected representatives of telling “half-truths and lies”, dished out half-truths and lies themselves in the very same breath.
Worse, despite having initially agreed to allow some of us to respond to the issues raised on behalf of the state government, they decided that those who took the trouble to come for the rally should not have a right to hear any clarification from us.
We were surprised by the sudden about-face because we thought the purpose of the rally was to obtain a response from us, which we were more than ready to provide.
Below are some of the accusations made which merit a response:
1. Pakatan leaders were completely silent over the Kidex issue
Speaker after speaker at the rally repeated the above accusation that Pakatan elected representatives said “nothing” about Kidex. As Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels rightly pointed out, “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it.”
I personally have issued at least half a dozen statements on Kidex. My colleagues in Petaling Jaya in the state assembly - R Rajiv, Yeo Bee Yin and Lau Weng San have issued even more, whether individually or collectively. None of these statements were in support of Kidex, most of which questioned the rationale and justification for the highway. One would just have to Google to see the statements on record.
Hence, the repeated accusation that Pakatan Rakyat leaders have been “completely silent” are malicious lies designed by certain leaders within SNTK to incite hatred and anger towards the elected representatives and state government.
2. The Selangor gov’t betrayed the people by approving the project
Certain speakers had crucified the Selangor government for betraying the trust of the people for approving the Kidex project, tacitly or otherwise.
Let me unequivocally state here that the Selangor government has not approved Kidex, and hence the question of betrayal does not arise.
This was clearly admitted by Kidex to the Malay Mail Online on Jan 23 when the concessionaire said “it is prepared to apply for further extension of its concession agreement deadline, as the Selangor government has yet to approve the project and the various technical reports submitted by the company.”
It should be pointed out that the highway is approved and awarded by the federal government. Hence, venom - if any - should be directed at the parties who have approved and awarded the project.
3. The MB is playing games by not immediately rejecting Kidex
Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali has been accused of using delaying tactics and playing games by not immediately rejecting Kidex. He was also similarly accused of not saying anything about Kidex.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The MB understood Kidex to be a highly important issue and took pains to emphasise that “any highway to be built must prove itself beneficial to the rakyat”. As such, he outlined the strict conditions to which Kidex must comply before their application is to be considered for approval within three weeks of his appointment.
The Pakatan government believes in the rule of law, and that every party should be given the right to respond and justify their case. If even a murderer gets his day in court, then surely Kidex must be given an opportunity to prove their case and comply with any minimum requirements which are set by the state.
We would assume that such a government which acts on facts and figures would be preferable to one which acts on its whims and fancies.
In fact, the Petaling Jaya City Council has taken the extraordinary step of directly engaging a traffic consultant to review and verify the Traffic Impact Assessment submitted by the concessionaire. This report is currently being finalised.
The biggest disappointment, however, is the fact that Azmin Ali has already personally conveyed the above message to the SNTK committee - whom he met in November last year.
During the meeting where I was present, it was consensually agreed that Kidex will have up to Feb 14 - the expiry of the Concession Agreement extended by the works minister - to comply with the conditions stipulated by the state government.
Under such circumstances, how can the MB now come out and arbitrarily reject Kidex well before the agreed upon deadline?
4. Nothing complied with to date
Finally, it is important to emphasise here that Kidex has not yet complied with a single condition meted out by the MB. The traffic impact assessment has not proven its merit. The proposed toll rates and profitability has not been revealed, and the toll concession agreement has not been declassified for the public.
There are three weeks left for Kidex to comply with the above. Until and unless Kidex is able to do so, there will be nothing for the Selangor government to consider, and hence, nothing for the state government to approve.
Groups let down by elected reps' blasé attitudes
TONY PUA is the Petaling Jaya Utara MP and DAP national publicity secretary.