Malaysiakini’s Transport minister blasts Guan Eng for U-turn reported”
Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha criticised the Penang government today for its U-turn in lifting the stop work order on the Ipoh-Padang Besar Electrified Double Track Project (EDTP), blamed for the worsening floods in northern states. [...]
Kong said the state government should not have used the stop-work order as a cheap publicity tool, but instead should work with the federal government on mega projects that benefit the state and the country as a whole.
Isn’t that typical of an MCA minister towards governance and public accountability? Isn’t the PKFZ mess an outcome of a MCA minister’s poor monitoring?
All Lim Guan Eng wanted from MMC Gamuda was a letter of guarantee that it would reduce the impact of flooding caused by the rail double tracking (after the horrendous kedah experience) and that flood damage to the properties of Penangites must be compensated.
Kong should have insisted on that letter of guarantee in the first place and not leave it to Lim to do the necessary hard yards. But alas, Kong is MCA and that’s what you can expect of an MCA minister (probably with the sole exception of Ong Tee Keat).
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/11/6/nation/7373335&sec=nation
ReplyDeletechor chee heung , Housing and Local Government Minister and Alor Star MP also has the same suspision as LGE - that the double track is responsible.
unfortunately, unlike lge, he is an MCA man, and therefore, has to shut up and watch the water rise. maybe not the shut up bit - he can always blame it in the pas led state government
It is very that the railway tracks are build above the flood levels. otherwise it will become a submarine and RMN need not to spend billions for 2 which cannot go underwater.
ReplyDeleteThe railway tracks are build on top of a "bund" in order to avoid becoming a submarine. This "bund" cuts off the passage of flood flow and hence cause flooding on the other side of the "bund".
Sometimes, it is difficut to determine the proper drainage and malaysian engineers will gasak and put culverts under the bund to facilitate the flow. Of course with Gamuda tai loh, they wanted to save and some commission to mCA, the number of culverts can be reduced resulting in flood on the other side of the "bund".