PETALING JAYA: Two projects under the Private Public Cooperation Unit (Ukas) valued at RM248 million, had failed to be completed, according to the 2018 Second Series of the Auditor General report released today.
The report said that even though a facilitation fund (Dana Mudahcara) was injected to help cover the costs for infrastructure and equipment, the projects were not completed.
The report pointed out that one of the failed projects was the University Perdana project valued at RM191 million, which made up 89.7% of the total funds approved by the government but to date has not been initiated.
The report also stated that the Geothermal Power Station project had failed to meet the May 2019 completion due the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (Seda) Malaysia withdrawing its approval.
The government had allocated RM30 billion to stimulate the private investment in strategic priority areas that could give positive impact to the country’s economy and as of Dec 31, 2018, the government had channeled RM12.013 billion to Ukas for the facilitation fund.
On the management level, the report found weaknesses in the process of valuation, agreement administration and channeling of funds that could expose the government to poor governance.
The auditor’s report also found that a total of RM3.612 billion from the facilitation fund had been channeled to certain companies and agencies that were not aligned with the fund’s objectives.
“The use of the facilitation fund to pay off certain corporate company debt was unreasonable,“ the report stated.
The report noted how funds had been utilised for land acquisition purposes for the East Coast Railroad Project, Multi-Product Gas Pipeline and the Trans-Sabah Pipeline.
It recommended that Ukas issue warning letters to companies that have failed to meet the terms of the agreements and the unit take firm and appropriate actions against companies that violate the contractual requirements.
