KUALA LUMPUR: The opposition has questioned the suitability of Malaysia Resources Corporation Bhd (MRCB) being appointed the master developer of the 3,000 acres (1,214ha) of land in Sungai Buloh in the joint venture between the government and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

Commenting on a report in The Edge Financial Daily on Wednesday, March 31, that MRCB is tipped to be appointed the master developer of the said land in Sungai Buloh, Tony Pua (Petaling Jaya Utara-DAP) pointed out that in MRCB's recent rights issue exercise, the EPF had to spend RM192 million to buy up 171.4 million shares at RM1.12 each which were not taken up.

"It has demonstrated a clear lack of market confidence in MRCB, and its major shareholder, EPF, had to come to the rescue.

"If it is true that MRCB will indeed be appointed the master developer of the 3,000-acre piece of prime land in Sungai Buloh, then it will run directly opposite to what the prime minister had promised in the NEM," said Pua.

"The joint venture with EPF and the appointment of MRCB raises the following questions: on what basis is the EPF appointed as the joint venture developer for the 3,000 acres of land? On what basis is MRCB appointed as the master developer for the project? Why has there not been any open tender for the project?" Pua asked.

He said that when Singapore wanted to build the two integrated resorts in Marina Bay and Sentosa with a gross development value of S$4 billion to S$6 billion (RM9.33 billion to RM14 billion) each, the Singapore government had called for an international bid to attract the best ideas and proposals. A ministerial committee headed by senior ministers was set up to review the proposals in detail before the award was made.

"The question is why is the government favouring MRCB, which itself was facing financial difficulties, without any open bidding or proposals from the Malaysian or even international business community for a project which the PM has estimated will cost up to RM5 billion to develop?" asked Pua.

"Like the direct award of the proposed largest exhibition and convention centre by Matrade to Naza TTDI without any open tenders, the government has once again shown that it is unwilling to let go of its policy to award sweetheart deals to crony companies without any transparency.

"This runs smack in the face of Datuk Seri Najib Razak's promise that 'we can no longer tolerate practices that support the behaviour of rent seeking and patronage', which have tarnished the altruistic aims of the New Economic Model (NEM) in his speech on Wednesday on NEM," said Pua.

Liew Chin Tong (Bukit Bendera-DAP) requested that a bipartisan select committee in parliament on the NEM be established to hold a national public hearing. According to Liew, this would be similar to the select committee on the Criminal Procedure Act and Penal Code in 2006. MPs on the committee travelled all over Malaysia to listen to people and groups for feedback on the amendments.

"A special session should also be called to debate on the NEM and not to be bundled with 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP). These are two different concepts. One is prepared by National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) while the 10MP is prepared by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU). The documents are different, hence there should be two separate sessions to deal with them," said Liew. He was also unhappy that MPs were given only six days to debate the 10MP.