Rafizi’s claims on MRT amateurish, filled with fatal flaws: BN

PETALING JAYA: PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli's formula to determine the construction cost of the MRT project was substandard and filled with "fatal flaws", Barisan Nasional strategic communications team stressed.
In another response to the MRT debate, the team pointed out various errors Rafizi had made when comparing the cost of MRT Sungai Buloh – Kajang (MRT SBK) line with the Seoul Line 9 MRT project in Korea.
Rafizi, who is also the Pandan MP, had earlier claimed that the MRT SBK was 2.5 times costlier than the Seoul Line 9, a calculation he made using the "normalisation" method and citing the 2000's Halcrow study which outlined the difference in cost to build underground and elevated MRT.
He had also reasoned that the 37.5km Seoul Line 9 should virtually be considered as 112.5km in terms of construction cost as it was fully underground.
However, the team stated that Rafizi had erred, stating that the Seoul Line 9 was not entirely underground.
"These are just some of the many wrong assumptions that prove Rafizi's formula is misleading and unworkable. With the many fatal flaws, it is clear that Rafizi's own simplistic normalization formula is unrealistic and amateurish," it said.
"It is nothing more than his "syiok sendiri" effort for him to defend his earlier claim and hide his shame of being publicly exposed as the liar he is for making the earlier false claims,' the team headed by Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who is Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.
The BN team also said that Rafizi had failed to factor in the difference in soil condition between Kuala Lumpur and Seoul to construct MRT stations underground.
"The Seoul line 9 runs along the south banks of the Han River where the majority of the tunnelling is through soft compacted soft sand as opposed to the hard granite and limestone formations of Kuala Lumpur.
"Certainly, tunnelling through soft sand is less expensive and quicker," it said.
The team said it was a fact that on a per km basis, the Seoul Line 9 was more expansive than the MRT SBK and not otherwise as claimed by Rafizi.
It also reminded Rafizi to stop bringing embarrassment to himself any further after repeatedly being exposed and had to admit his own failure and deceit.