Philosophy Politics Economics

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Petaling Jaya Over-Developed? Posted: 24 Jun 2010 05:04 AM PDT The Star did a story on the dilemma faced by developers and residents in the future development on Petaling Jaya. It's a pretty long story which you can read here. My comments were sought and most were included at the end of the story. The full text of my email interview is as follows: 1. How do you think Petaling Jaya should improve further? But can the saturated city sustain such changes? Frankly speaking, "saturation" is a relative term. Compared to major cities in the world such as London, Tokyo or even Singapore, the population and built up space in Petaling Jaya is still relatively moderate and there's clearly room for additional growth. However, such densities can only be achieved if there is matching infrastructure and behavioural changes accompanying the growth of the city in terms of development. At this point of time, the city of Petaling Jaya is "saturated" because the level of service from public transportation is far below the required levels of comparable cities. As a result, without the accompanying "people-movers" via the public transport system, Petaling Jaya has hit its growth bottleneck. The problems faced by Petaling Jaya residents are part of a larger endemic problem facing Klang Valley constituents. As an example, the city of Singapore has nearly 3,500 buses serving a population of less than 5 million and the size of 700sq km, while in the Klang Valley, RapidKL has less than 1,000 buses service an area of 2,900 sq km, and a population of nearly 6 million. 2. What are the matters to take note of in carrying out these improvements? There's a major problem when dealing with public transportation issues, not only in Petaling Jaya but the entire country. Currently, the local councils which are agencies which are best placed to develop and design public transport routes and hubs in their respective zones are completely left out of the planning picture by the federal agencies. It runs contrary to international established practices of delegating transport management powers to local government authorities, instead of attempting to plan transport routes for all cities in the country from a highly centralised government. It makes a complete mockery of the system when local councils decide where bus stops are built, but it's the federal government and agencies which design bus routes, and decides the who, the how and the frequency of operations for each route. The recent set up of the Public Transport Commission attempted to unite the disparate federal agencies dealing with public transport which currently falls under 4-5 different ministries, but it fails to decentralise the planning, design and running of local public transport systems to the rightful authorities. For example, in the 10th Malaysia Plan, all responsibilities of increasing and improving bus services in various cities are placed with RapidKL or its parent, Syarikat Prasarana Bhd. It will become a recipe for failure as 1 company will not be able to cope with the demands of every city, and the lack of competition will only encourage falling productivity and efficiency. Conclusion: I would call for a thorough transformation of how public transportation is managed in Malaysia which is critical to unclog the development bottleneck in our cities such as Petaling Jaya. Car ownership rates in the Klang Valley is more than 1:1, meaning that every baby born already "owns" a car. This ownership ratio must be reduced by as much as half before traffic congestion issues ease substantially for the next phase of urban growth. And this goal can only be achieved by inject an element of competition in public transport, decentralise decision making to local authories and making public transport requirements an integral part of all development orders approved by the local council.

Works Minister Tolerates Ali-Baba Projects Posted: 24 Jun 2010 04:46 AM PDT Shah Alam Hospital saga takes an 'Ali Baba' twist WED, 23 JUN 2010 15:46 By Rahmah Ghazali KUALA LUMPUR: The Shah Alam Hospital saga has taken an "Ali Baba" twist with revelation that the main contractor for the RM482 million project did not do any work at all and yet had made a handsome profit. Opposition MP Tony Pua (DAP-PJ Utara) said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should look into this matter. Speaking at press conference at Parliament today, Pua produced two documents which clearly showed that the whole project was being carried out by the sub-contractor, GM Healthcare Sdn Bhd, and not the main contractor, Sunshine Fleet Sdn Bhd. One document stated that a letter of award was given to a sub-contractor, Isyoda (M) Sdn Bhd, a company which eventually had to opt out after it was delisted from Bursa Malaysia. The project was subsequently given to GM Healthcare. "In the letter of award, it was stated that RM451 million would be given to Isyoda while Sunshine Fleet (the main contractor) would receive RM482 million from the government. "So the main contractor gets a net profit of RM31 million… this is a clear 'Ali Baba' project. The PWD needs to take action against Sunshine Fleet...," he said. Pua said the fact that Sunshine Fleet is making a net profit without doing any work (since the whole project is handled by the sub-contractor) contradicts the terms of the contract awarded by the ministry. Pua also said that a second letter by Isyoda to Sunshine Fleet showed that the former had promised a payment of RM46 million to the Sunshine Fleet chairman personally, and not through the main contractor. 'Unconditional payment' The unconditional payment, according to the letter, was in consideration of Sunshine Fleet's "efforts to procure the letter of award to be issued to us in further consideration of your future contribution and cooperation to ensure the smooth operation and success of the project". It also said that the RM46 million would be paid by instalments. From this amount, said Pua, Isyoda promised to pay 9.5% progressive interim payments to the Sunshine Fleet chairman totalling RM77 million. "This is seen as a commission for this contract. But is it really a commission or a bribe? We have given this to the MACC for further investigation," he said. Shah Alam Hospital is reportedly bogged down in a legal tussle between Sunshine Fleet and GM Healthcare, giving rise to fears that the project will not be completed on time. But Works Minister Shaziman Abu Mansor dismissed such fears, saying that the project is on track. Besides, he told Parliament today that the government is only responsible to the main contractor and has no authority over payments to the sub-contractor. It has been reported that GM Healthcare has filed a petition to wind up Sunshine Fleet over a RM10 million debt. Sunshine was served the notice on April 1 this year after it failed to pay the RM10 million owed to GM Healthcare. The RM10 million is the bond GM Healthcare had placed with the Public Works Department (PWD) on behalf of Sunshine Fleet for the design, construction, equipping, commissioning and maintenance of the Shah Alam Hospital. 'No action against Sunshine Fleet' In reply to Pua, Shaziman said that as long as the project is on schedule, the PWD will not take action against Sunshine Fleet. However, he said that a new law, Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act, will be introduced to ensure sub-contractors are paid on time. "This will help protect sub-contractors who do not get any payment from the main contractor," he said. Shaziman also said that the PWD has not detected any breach of contract allegedly committed by Sunshine Fleet. "In view of this, the question of the project being delayed or the contract being terminated does not arise. This is because the project is on track and (the parties) have observed the terms of the contract agreed to by the government," he said. The hospital, which was slated to be completed in November this year, will be ready by June next year. Opposition MPs have repeatedly raised the issue, alleging that there were discrepancies in the contract PWD awarded to Sunshine Fleet through direct negotiation in 2007. The situation took a turn for the worse when the board of directors of Sunshine Fleet, many of are related to the Sultan of Selangor, became involved in the legal squabble.

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