The Selangor government is set to abolish the alleged 40-30-30 political quota for solid waste management in Alam Flora contracts as the state will now conduct open balloting for the appointment of the management contractors.

In a post-cabinet meeting press conference in Shah Alam today, Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said this "would allow all eligible companies equal opportunities to be appointed."

The new mechanism, said Abdul Khalid, will be conducted in a month's time when new councillors are appointed in several municipal and city councils at end of this month.

The value of the contracts, said Abdul Khalid, would involve 30 percent of the total expenditure for each local council.

“For example, if Petaling Jaya City Council (MPPJ) has RM150 million income, then the contract would cost around RM50 million,” he said.

pkr pc abdul khalid ibrahim 130706 abdul khalid "The Selangor government is committed to promoting transparency, accountability and good governance in its administration and it is aware of the concerns raised by certain parties in the hiring of contractors for solid waste management jobs for local councils," said the menteri besar (right).

He also added that such mechanism came up following "various proposals to establish a transparent mechanism in hiring the contractors."

Only for genuine contractors

"At the same time, we open up opportunities to the business which was previously exclusive to those favourable to Barisan Nasional and Umno."

"After much discussion, the Selangor state executive council today agreed to conduct open balloting for the appointment of solid waste management contractors," he added.

In addition to that, Abdul Khalid said the state government hopes the method together with the audit committee which will be set up to "ensure that genuine contractors are given the job."

"(Also, it will help to look out for) the possibility of corrupt or unethical practices. The state will also be seeking advice from Transparency International to guide us on the matter)," he said.

The Alam Flora controversy

Last week, the state government decided to probe the awards of waste management contracts in the wake of allegations that these went to the state's three ruling parties based on a 40-30-30 quota.

Abdul Khalid said an audit committee would be set up to work with solid waste management company Alam Flora Sdn Bhd to ensure that its contracts are awarded to "genuine operators" and not party-linked brokers.

mppj councilor thiruvenggedem 100609 The controversy surfaced when Petaling Jaya councillor A Thiruvenggadam revealed details of " dubious dealings " between the Pakatan Rakyat-run state government and Alam Flora - the company which has been appointed to manage solid waste in Selangor.

The PKR leader had alleged that the state divides Alam Flora's waste management contracts to political parties - 40 percent to PKR, 30 percent to PAS and 30 percent to DAP.

We made recommendations

Following this revelation, many opposition politicians including PKR vice-president R Sivarasa had denied such quota would resort to corruption, saying that the political parties were only given responsibilities to "recommend contractors but Alam Flora is the one who decides".

Such quota was also previously denied by the state exco and DAP leader Ronnie Liu, who had denied "that the government has never used such a formula" and called on Thiruvenggadam to produce evidence to back his claims.

However, DAP parliamentarian Tony Pua had a different take, as he lashed out at Pakatan leaders, arguing that politicians should not be involved in ‘recommending contractors'.

He suggested that the state to implement a competitive tender, even if it is limited to a certain class of contractors, to ensure that corruption and cronyism will not take root under the Pakatan government.