Can You Trust This Report?

Read this Bernama report and then think whether the Government can deliver what they promise!

The Finance Ministry will ensure that only reliable contractors are awarded projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP). Its Deputy Minister Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin said the process of issuing tenders involving RM200 billion, would be carried out within the next few weeks. "The Finance Ministry is given an important role to realise this," he told reporters at a gathering with students of Institutions of Higher Learning and the presentation of loan advance under the National Higher Educational Institution Fund Corporation (PTPTN) here.

Awang Adek who is also Bachok Member of Parliament, said there was no guarantee that contractors who quoted low bids in their tender, could complete projects according to schedule. "We won't allow (incompetent) contractors, who in their bid for projects, quoted low prices," he said. He said projects to be implemented under the 9MP were "extraordinary" as they were monitored from the early stage and if problems arose, they would be immediately solved without having to spend as long as three years. He said each year, the ministry would issue tenders involving an allocation of RM50 billion till the end of the 9MP. For the implementation of small projects, priority would be given to Bumiputera contractors while large scale projects such as the construction of Universiti Terengganu Darul Iman, Universiti Kelantan Darul Naim, expressways and bridges would be issued through the open tender.

**** I don't know about you but I have a strange feeling that we'll hear the same spin a few years down the road.