'Concerted effort needed to make TRX project viable'

KUALA LUMPUR: The Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) project, which the government has decided to continue, will be viable if all stakeholders make a concerted effort to ensure that financial institutions set up regional headquarters and offices there.
Dr Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff, Putra Business School's Senior Lecturer and Manager of Business Development, said such effort would ensure the billions of ringgit invested in the proposed financial district were recouped as soon as possible.
"The main priority is also to ensure that there is no empty space in the buildings. This is made more difficult considering there is already a glut of office space in Kuala Lumpur," he told Bernama today.
Ahmed Razman said the government could play a more active role in encouraging and assisting financial institutions to relocate their offices to TRX by providing incentives such as tax relief and relaxation in hiring policy.
Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced the Cabinet had decided to complete the TRX project in order to prevent further financial losses to the government.
He said RM2.8 billion would be injected into the project to ensure completion, hence avoiding the payment of a RM3.51 billion compensation.
"Injecting the additional RM2.8 billion, in addition to the RM3.7 billion transferred earlier to (master developer) TRX City Sdn Bhd (TRXC), will bring the total funding by the government to RM6.5 billion.
"The alternative of not coming up with the funding of RM2.8 billion and not completing the project is to pay RM3.51 billion in compensation, as well as having an eyesore abandoned mega-project in the heart of Kuala Lumpur," Lim explained.
TRXC, the government-owned company that is developing TRX and Bandar Malaysia, did not have the funds to complete the project's infrastructure works and had sought government financial assistance, he added.