KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is aware of the final cost of the Light Rail Transit Line 3 (LRT3) ballooning to around RM32 billion from the initial RM9 billion, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.
“When I stepped into this job as finance minister I asked about the construction cost of LRT3,” Lim told reporters after a special luncheon organised by the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industries of Malaysia (ACCCIM), here, today.
“I was told the former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had attended those meetings on cost increases in the LRT3 project,” Lim said.
In 2015, Prasarana Malaysia secured a government guarantee for a RM10 billion bond facility to fund the LRT3 project.
In March 2018, Prasarana requested for an additional RM22 billion in government guarantee to ensure funding for the construction and completion of the LRT3 project.
Najib, who was also finance minister at the time, has claimed that the letter seeking an additional RM22 billion in government guarantee never reached him.
Tony Pua, who is Damansara Member of Parliament, on Wednesday questioned how Najib could have been in the dark about the actual cost of the LRT3 project.
"Surely you cannot be unaware that the so-called RM9 billion budget for LRT3 you 'approved' was merely for the construction cost of the LRT?
“It did not include among other things, land acquisition, PDP fees, other consultant fees, operational and overhead costs, as well as interest during construction," Pua reportedly said.
Last week, Lim announced that the current government had decided to slash the LRT3 project cost.
“We managed to reduce the LRT project cost by 47 per cent to RM16.63 billion from RM31.65 billion. We managed to save RM15.02 billion in taxpayers money.
“This cost-cutting looks like a miracle but it's not, because the project cost was overstated in the first place,” Lim added.