Special audit on Pulau Jerejak project?

The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee may call for a special audit by the auditor-general on the controversial Pulau Jerejak redevelopment project in Penang.

Committee chairperson Azmi Khalid - also the Padang Besar MP - said the project has hogged headlines for several days now and that it would be of public interest if the auditor-general looks into the matter.

He said he may reach a decision tomorrow as to whether or not to formally request the auditor-general to undertake the investigations.

“You’ve seen in the papers over the past few days, (that a lot has been written) on Pulau Jerajak. And we don’t know head or tail about this, so we may ask the auditor-general to do a special report on this.

“We want to see if it involves federal government funding or the state government monies. If it is with the state government, then the state PAC can look into it themselves. But if it involves the federal government, then it comes directly under our purview.”

Azmi was speaking to reporters today after chairing a PAC hearing on the 2009 Auditor-General’s Report.

It has been reported that the redevelopment plan has caused a RM19 million loss for the state-owned Penang Development Corporation.

Another RM10.6 million is said to be owing to the state in land premium charges since 2004.

Although the project came about when BN governed Penang, a blame-game has started between former chief minister Koh Tsu Koon and his successor Lim Guan Eng, as to who should be held accountable.

Koh has insisted that Lim should take full responsibility for the deterioration of the Pulau Jerejak facilities.

Lim (right) has retorted that it was Koh himself who had allowed the project to be taken over by the Urban Development Authority.

The tiny Pulau Jerejak was formerly a leper colony before being turned into maximum security prison, earning it the moniker of ‘the Alcatraz of Malaysia’. The centre was closed in 1993 and it is now a resort island.

Polytechnic scandal

Azmi, who had chaired the PAC hearing into the Muadzam Shah Polytechnic Institute in Pahang scandal this morning, said more statements are needed.

“The people who came today were all new officers (from the Public Works Department and Higher Education Ministry) who were not around when the project came into being, except for one officer,” he said.

The project has changed hands three times since construction began in September 2001 with a contract value of RM219 million.

Although slated for completion in September 2003, the project was only completed late last year when a fourth contractor was called in to revive the project.

The government has had to bear cost over-runs of close to RM110 million, a 60 percent rise from the original estimate. This does not include the RM10.55 million in consultancy bills.

Topping this, the government has had to spend RM130,000 for rental of premises for students, pending completion of the polytechnic.

This is just one of the projects that the PAC will be looking into, based on irregularities highlighted in the Auditor-General’s Report.