FINANCE Minister Lim Guan Eng’s claim yesterday that Putrajaya will save RM3.1 billion by terminating its agreement with the project delivery partner (PDP) for the Sarawak portion of the Pan Borneo Highway is “misleading and deceitful”, said former works minister Fadillah Yusof 

He said the delivery schedule was “well on track while costs have been well-contained”.

Lim yesterday said the cost of the highway had been reduced by 14% – from RM21.9 billion to RM18.8 billion – by axing Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn Bhd (LBU).

Fadillah said the original target cost ceiling of the project was RM16.488 billion, and not the RM21.9 billion claimed by Lim.

The Petra Jaya MP said the Sarawak portion of the highway was scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.

“In fact, the PDP had announced in March 2019 that it was able to achieve further cost savings of RM2 billion from the original target cost as a result of efficient design, cost and change control management.

“As such, the original target cost has been further revised downwards to RM15.13 billion, a figure that is well lower than Guan Eng’s stated RM21.9 billion original cost and his downward revised cost of RM18.8 billion,” he said.

Fadillah said the reason why the previous Barisan Nasional government had adopted the PDP model was due to its success in the MRT1 project, which was delivered below the original budget and within the targeted completion date.

“It was also a result of the previous government learning from past experiences.

“With the PDP model, the awarded company (LBU) is incentivised to keep within the target cost,” Fadillah said, adding that cost overruns will lead to expensive penalties in the form of fee reduction.

He said the PDP model was a successful model and it was for that reason Lim’s home state of Penang had adopted it for their RM46 billion Penang transport master plan.

“As it is, DAP does not have a stellar track record of meeting targeted cost and targeted completion dates for their infrastructure projects in Penang.

“With the cancellation of the PDP model and the changes announced by Guan Eng yesterday, the Pan Borneo Sarawak project now runs a real risk of being delayed from its original targeted date of end 2021 and the risk of the project’s cost being much higher than the current RM15.13 billion targeted cost,” Fadillah said.

He said when that happens, “Sarawakians should know who is responsible”. – February 7, 2020.