TREASURY secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah should be sacked as Bandar  Malaysia chairman for failing to find a new master developer for the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)-owned project, said a DAP lawmaker. 

Tony Pua (DAP-Petaling Jaya Utara) said the Finance Ministry still had no updates on the matter despite announcing that eight companies had expressed interest in becoming the master developer last year. 

“We call upon the finance minister to give Irwan Serigar a new deadline by the end of this month to secure a new master developer to fulfil his promises to the people. 

“If the Treasury secretary-general fails once again to deliver, he should be removed from his position as Bandar Malaysia chairman, and a new, more competent replacement be found,” he said at Parliament today. 

The Finance Ministry, in a written parliamentary reply dated March 6, said the result of the tender exercise would be announced soon. 

It was responding to a question by Pua, who asked how many of the eight companies who expressed interest in becoming the master developer for Bandar Malaysia had actually submitted a bid to the ministry. 

“It cannot be more obvious that the prime minister is completely avoiding the question because as of today, no company has submitted their bids. 

“Worse, Malaysians have been told by the Bandar Malaysia chairman that the much-awaited announcement would be coming soon since July last year,” Pua said. 

In May last year, the ministry cancelled the contract to develop Bandar Malaysia awarded in 2015 to Sino-Malaysia joint venture IWH and China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC).

The Finance Ministry then opened a request for proposal (RFP) for the RM12.35 billion project on July 5, with a new deadline of July 20. 

The ministry said the consortium had failed to meet payment obligations despite repeated extensions. In 2015, the IWH-CREC consortium acquired a 60% stake in Bandar Malaysia for RM7.41 billion.

Last December, Irwan Serigar said the government was still negotiating on the issue of the master developer for the project in Kuala Lumpur. – March 14, 2018.