The audacity of awarding LRT job to George Kent

YOURSAY 'This is not a bid but an auction where the highest price won. It makes a mockery of the whole tender process.'

George Kent-Lion Pacific JV gets LRT job

Pemerhati: So what all this boils down to is that PM Najib Razak's Umno government carried out a ‘sandiwara' to fool the public into thinking that it was carrying out this mega-project by calling for an open tender.

But the contract was awarded, ostensibly on the orders of Najib, to an unqualified crony company that failed the technical evaluation.

What this clearly illustrates is that under the BN government there is no difference between an open tender and a negotiated contract.

Najib and Umno have dictatorial powers and they can give any contract to anyone they like and siphon off any amount of money they wish.

Anak JB: This is not a bid but an auction where the highest price won. It makes a mockery of the whole tender process.

There is an Ali Baba in all of this arrangement. Ali (George Kent) won the contract and sub-contracted it to Baba (foreign specialist who probably bid for the project, too).

The price is marked up considerably and commissions paid out to... no prizes for guessing.

Gerard Lourdesamy: A disgusting spin by Bernama to hide the fact that a crony of Najib got the contract as predicted. The ETP (Economic Transformation Programme) is nothing but a farce.

Cronyism is so deeply ingrained in Umno-BN that it has become a religious creed for them. This country is doomed to failure unless the regime is thrown out come GE13 together with their cronies.

Fong: The cat is finally out of the bag.

ACR: It appears that PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli's allegation has some basis, but the frightening thing is he said that the George Kent proposal failed the technical evaluation.

The audacity of Prasarana and the PM to go ahead with this award in the face of the serious allegations of irregularities is baffling. They deserve to be chucked out.

Loyal Malaysian: When the ‘numero uno' of the country allegedly lends your company his hand, it is already a foregone conclusion that George Kent will get the contract.

The disturbing aspects are the revelations that this company does not have the expertise to undertake a project of this nature and the higher cost of the contract.

Disbeliever: "The JV is 100 percent locally-owned companies...".

I'm sure the 100 percent locally-owned companies must either be Umno-owned or BN-friendly companies. Najib is showing of sheer arrogance and taking all of us for a ride, taking us for nothing more than fools.

Sa Tombs: Moral of the story? You can talk till the cows come home but the corrupt are so bold that they will put the public at risk.

Thetruth: It's confirmed GE13 is not going to be in 2012. It looks like it will be in 2013.

They just don't care about the nation. They loot, loot and loot because they know they are untouchable. The rural folks are so easy to lie to. God help us all if they are still around after GE13.

MMaplesyrup: In Malaysia, everybody can be a mega-contractor to build highways or trains. No need track record. I wonder who in their right frame of mind will award the contract to build one's dream bungalow to someone with no experience?

Avathar: This must be the 'last hurrah' for BN. Everywhere, everyone was talking that George Kent would get the project and indeed, it got it. Something fishy?

Wira: Better check the shareholdings of the joint-venture company. Is George Kent the majority holder? If so, by how much?

Many are suspecting that the partnership is a compensation for an earlier yet-to-be-announced award to George Kent.

Odin: Wait a minute. We were told that a company was allowed to submit only one bid.

In an earlier report, we read that George Kent had submitted a bid as a JV (joint venture) partner of George Kent-Wijet-Thales, and that Thales had submitted a bid as a JV partner in three JVs, viz: George Kent-Wijet-Thales, Colas-CMC-Thales and Samsung-LG-Thales.

Why do we now have George Kent-Lion Pacific JV? What is going on here?

Black Mamba: All the earlier denials and the red-faced managing director of George Kent who refused to be interviewed by the press have proven Rafizi to be right about the state of tender award in this LRT extension.

A previous PM gave the telco rights, independent power producers (IPPs) and gambling licences to his cronies, so why shouldn't Najib have his own cronies to protect his interests?

Yellow Bird: Problem: BN doesn't give a damn about public opinion. Solution: We don't give a damn about BN. Vote them out.