Universiti Malaysia Terengganu’s (UMT) RM14 million project to build a ‘special purpose ship’ ended up producing nothing more than a cargo vessel, the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) final report on the project stated today.

In a report tabled to the Parliament today, the project was criticised roundly by the PAC for being a form of “wastage”. The panel also recommended investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) into the project.

The RV Discovery was supposed to be constructed between 2008 and 2010, but had been delayed by a good two years, leading to the project to be highlighted in the Auditor-General’s Report of 2012.

At the time of the audit in January 2013, the ship was yet to have a certificate to take on passengers, and later in October last year, the ship was given a cargo ship certificate by the Marine Department.

The project was first accorded RM12.5 million under the Ninth Malaysia Plan but had two work improvements, taking the total cost to RM14.39 million.

In its summary over the project, PAC also recommended that action be taken against former UMT vice-chancellor Abdul Aziz Deraman, who was in charge of the whole project.

“All in all, RV Discovery can be termed as an ailing project (projek sakit),” the report said.

It said that many decisions made during the course of construction “appear to favour” the contractor.

“PAC is very dissatisfied with how the project has been handled,” it concluded.