All ministers and department heads should be made to answer for failed projects that involve taxpayers' money, said PAS central committee member Mahfuz Omar.

Questioning the focus on Works Minister S Samy Vellu, he said the government should also disclose who else has been involved in such projects as the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation building, which has been left unoccupied for 10 years.

Mahfuz said those responsible should also be made to resign, adding his voice to the recent clamour for the resignation of Samy Vellu over a number of problems linked to failed building and infrastructure projects projects under his ministry.

Samy Vellu has recently come under fire for the mudslide at km303 of the North-South Expressway near Gua Tempurung, the closure of the Kepong flyover at the Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR2) because of cracks in 31 of the 33 pillars; and the shutdown of the two-month-old Sultan Ismail Hospital in Johore due to a fungal problem.

"While BN members of Parliament are asking for his resignation, they should also call on heads of heads in the Public Works Department and Finance Ministry to do the same," he said when contacted today.

"(The government should also clarify) which of the failed past projects are under which departments or ministries."

Preferential treatment?

Mahfuz also criticised Samy Vellu's statement yesterday in which he said a detailed report on the implementation of government projects would be submitted to Prime Minster Abdullah Ahmad Badawi tomorrow.

Samy Vellu had said the premier would then decide if reporters would be briefed on the outcome of the meeting.

"The money wasted on repairs of these projects does not belong to the prime minister or to the cabinet. It belongs to taxpayers, who have a right to know the contents of that report," said Mahfuz.

He also questioned the apparently preferential treatment accorded to Bumi Hiway Sdn Bhd, the company awarded the contract for the MRR2 flyover and Mentakab-Temerloh double lane project, which was supposed to have completed last year.

"It's not strategically wise to award so many contracts to one company. They would get complacent and may not do the work well," said Mahfuz.

Bumi Hiway has also been given a 15-year concession for maintenance works on roads in the Federal Territory, said Mahfuz, adding that the period was too long for a single company.

"Fifteen years is very long. The government should shorten that term, or at least review the contract in view of the problems identified with their projects."

Bumi Hiway's chief executive officer Mohd Zaini Amran had previously declined comment (through his assistant) on the MRR2 project, but said a statement would be issued on the Mentakab-Temerloh project.