The Pekan MP said the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government had given a disappointing reply that the actual project cost was RM110 billion.
“This is double the estimated cost of between RM55 billion and RM70 billion projected by the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government and the Singaporean government,” Najib said in a Facebook post today.
Najib said the HSR project was an international open tender jointly called by both the Malaysian and Singaporean governments, and would only be closed on Dec 28, with the successful bidder to be evaluated and a joint decision to be made by both countries.
He said the terms of the tender required the bidder to offer a funding and financial package, and owing to the competitiveness of the project, the bidders would usually be supported by their respective governments.
“This project is also high-profile and has attracted the attention of aggressive bidders from around the world.
“Which is why I find Azmin’s reply to questions by Ayer Hitam MP Wee Ka Siong and myself disappointing.
“He could only answer that the RM110 billion cost was their estimation, and it included the hidden costs that have not been specified, even when the tender to be decided by the agencies of both countries has not been closed, the cost yet to be finalised, and the funding package still unknown.
“Are they saying that the Singaporean government hid that hidden cost?” Najib queried.
He questioned why the PH government did not reveal the economic impact evaluation of the project, where it would show the economic benefits.
“The economic affairs minister has chosen to ignore this, and has instead opted to make a joke, rather than answer the question,” he said.
The Pekan MP said the reply was not a good start to parliamentary proceedings as such a big project needed a perfect response, owing to its impact on millions of Malaysians and on international relations.
“From the PH government’s doubtful response on why the HSR project had multiplied to RM110 billion, it shows how common it is for them to always multiply the cost of projects started by BN, such as the HSR, the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and the LRT3, and then say we hid the actual costs.
“After that they will claim to have reduced the project cost by half, and claim credit for themselves, when their new costs are actually higher than the initial BN costs.”
Najib said a finance ministry official had today claimed that he had known the cost of the LRT3 to be as high as RM32 billion.
“For this, I demand for them to show documents where I have supposedly approved an application for an additional guarantee of RM22 billion from a letter by Prasarana dated March 30.
“In actual fact, the BN government had never agreed to such an application,” he said.