To ensure that government projects are awarded to contractors who deliver the best outcomes, the Finance Ministry will introduce a new and clean public-private partnership (PPP), which incorporates open tenders.
“This new open tender PPP the federal government will be anchored on the government’s commitment to transparency and accountability and to find the best value in every single thing the government does,” said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.
He noted that the open tender PPP will benefit the public since projects are built at the best price, without the government incurring great debt, reported The New Straits Times.
He revealed that the previous administration hid government expenditure using off-budget financing trick.
In fact, a recent review process by the ministry showed that 14 of 17 PPP projects under the previous administration were directly negotiated without undergoing open tender process.
“Most of the 17 projects were land swap projects. This means the contractor carry out a government project such as building new affordable housing, schools, police stations, fire stations and army camps, and get pieces of government land in return, instead of being paid in cash,” said Lim.
“Such direct negotiated process not only perverts the model of PPP into a privatisation exercise or crony capitalism, it also puts the federal government into deep debts.”
This comes as the real value of government land is underpriced in direct negotiation, while the project cost is overpriced, explained Lim.
Image sourced from Kosmo.com.my
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