KUALA LUMPUR: The Mass Rapid Transit 1 (MRT 1) project from Sungai Buloh to Kajang does not cost RM21 billion, but RM28 billion, claims PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli.
He says the hefty RM7 billion consultancy fee needed to be taken into account.
Rafizi says the fee was paid by MRT Corp to KVMRT Sdn Bhd, a joint consortium formed by MMC Corporation Bhd and Gamuda Bhd.
Speaking at a press conference today, he referred to a July 2014 New Straits Times report which quoted former MRT Corp chief executive officer Wira Azhar Abdul Hamid as confirming the MRT1 total construction cost was RM28 billion, inclusive of the consultancy fee paid to KVMRT.
Rafizi has been holding daily press conferences to dispute official figures given for the cost of the MRT project.
Earlier today, the Barisan Nasional strategic communications team refuted Rafizi’s argument yesterday about the high cost of the construction when compared with similar MRT projects in Spain and South Korea.
It pointed out that Rafizi was referring to an anonymous blog called Pedestrian Observations which had in fact warned its readers not to rely on its data which could be erroneous.
Rafizi today dismissed this statement as made by “cyber troopers”.
“I don’t respond to cyber troopers. Get a face; I want somebody that I can sue.
“It’s a joke that you have a strategic communications director who does not communicate and who outsources everything to a ghost that I cannot sue.”