Chan and the Sentul to Batu Caves DRT

Lets start with the Sentul-Batu Caves Double Rail Track way back in April 2006











Lim Kit Siang says Chan Kong Choy should apologise for the grave parliamentary misdemeanor of misleading the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi by giving a baseless and empty response to his queries in Parliament

Kit Siang had sought clarification from PM Abdullah during his winding up when he was speaking about efficient and accountable public service delivery and implementation of the Ninth Malaysia Plan, referring him to the incident in Parliament when a Cabinet Minister claimed total ignorance on a project which should come under his jurisdiction.

When Chan was winding up the debate on the Transport Ministry, Kit Siang had asked why the Sentul Batu Caves Double Rail Track project had ballooned to RM650 million or 55% higher than the RM420 million bid agreed three years ago before the project was suspended.

Chan was quizzed on why the 7.5 km Sentul to Batu Caves high speed line is now costing RM650 million, when independent valuers already found the RM420 million price agreed for the project in 2003 before it was suspended as too high as there were parties willing to do it for even less than RM350 million.
At the price of RM650 million, the Sentul to Batu Caves Double Track will work out to about RM90 million per kilometer, more than four times higher than the cost of the Ipoh to Rawang Double Track project which cost approximately RM20 million per kilometer which is regarded as quite expensive at that time.

At first Kong Choy prevaricated by giving vague and general reasons for the 55% jump of the price of the project from RM420 million to RM650 million in a matter of three years, attributing it to price increases in materials and expertise and their sourcing from Europe.

But then when he Chan Kong Choy was asked why there was no open tender and who was the new contractor who had been awarded the RM650 million contract, Chan decided to “pass the buck”, claiming that he did not have all the information, that he had to refer to the Finance Ministry which was responsible for the project.

When one opposition member protested that it was outrageous that the Transport Minister did not know or could not tell who was the successful contractor for the RM650 million Sentul to Batu Caves Double Track project, Chan promised to check with the Finance Ministry and to give a written answer.

When no answer was forth coming from Chan 24 hours later , Kit Siang stood up to raise the issue with the Prime Minister during his winding up debate of the Ninth Malaysia Plan . On seeing that Chan quickly scribbled a note advising the Prime Minister that he (Chan) had answered KS query , which was not true.

Until today as to who is the contractor awarded the RM650 million Sentul-Batu Caves Double Rail Track project and the full reasons for the 55% hike in the cost of Sentul to Batu Caves Double Rail Track from RM420 million to RM650 million in a matter of three years , no one knows , why the secrecy ?

On the Misuse of DCA aircraft

Chan was also guilty of a similar “sleight-of-hand” in Parliament during the winding-up of the Motion of Thanks for the Royal Address in March. During the debate on the Royal Address, both the DAP MP for Bagan, Lim Hock Seng and Kit Siang had queried Chan on his misuse of Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) aircrafts to various parts of the country for MCA party functions. I called on him to present to Parliament the full log book of his use of DCA aircrafts since his appointment as Transport Minister and the purpose of each trip.

Keeping the subject to the very end of his speech, Chan just made a denial saying that the DCA had conducted a detailed investigation which found that there was no such abuses by the Minister and suddenly sat down and refused to budge despite protests by several DAP MPs that the answer about the Minister’s misuse of DCA aircraft was very unsatisfactory . Chan just sat transfixed in his seat, indicating that he had finished his speech and had nothing more to add!

In conclusion on these two issues , it goes to show that the previous Transport Minister had been misleading the public and had skeletons hidden in his closet by not revealing the contractor for the Sentul to Batu Caves double tracking project and the gross misuse and abuse of power for treating the DCA aircraft like his own personal aircraft .