Kuala Lumpur, Nov 10: Malaysian government today said there is no proposal to review the award of a multi-billion dollar rail project to local contractors, which was initially offered to Indian Railway Construction Company (IRCON), despite opposition's criticism over absence of fair play. The contract, one of the country's largest infrastructure projects, was initially promised to IRCON and China railway under an initiative that included a barter deal to increase exports of palmoil to India and China. But last month it was given to local infrastructure group Gamuda joint venture and Malaysia Mining Corp BHD (MMC).
"There is no proposal to have a relook at this package. The letter of award has already been given to Gamuda and we are at the stage of discussing with them," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told Parliament.
Abdullah, who is also the finance minister, said the Cabinet would scrutinise the final agreement before approving the contract. "We will make a decision accordingly on that," Bernama news agency quoted him as saying.
He said the agreement has not yet been signed which is subject to discussions and negotiations that have been going on. "We will be able to find out later when the negotiations are completed," he said.
"There is already an instruction by the Cabinet that the agreement should first be submitted to the Cabinet for scrutiny and then the Cabinet will make a decision," he said when asked to comment on criticism against the government for awarding Gamuda and MMC the contract without an open tender.
Bureau Report