Government to relook and shelve some projects

Source TheStar

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government will review and shelve some projects including those in the economic corridors in view of the global economic slowdown, said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The Prime Minister said the Government would decide which projects should go ahead and which could be put on hold.

“We have made the decision to review the projects once again. We need to postpone some projects which have yet to start construction,” he said at Akademi Kenegaraan’s closing ceremony for the Spirit of Merdeka 2008.

Abdullah said the action was appropriate because these were big projects and involved huge sums of money.

“The review involves all projects including those in the economic corridors. We will implement those we can afford and hold back those which can be postponed,” he said.

He said, however, the country was still drawing in foreign investments, adding that Malaysia’s approach was “targeted investment” from areas with excess funds.

“We have provided good investment opportunities for this country,” he said.

To a question on Malaysia not being able to achieve the same GDP as the previous year due to the global economic slowdown, Abdullah said Malaysia’s economy was resilient and the ringgit stable and it had strong foreign reserves.

He said Malaysia could maintain its exports at a high level and it was enjoying a favourable trade balance and even though the political scenario in the country was active, the nation remained peaceful.

Abdullah said Malaysia has already determined its approach in the present challenging economic times and had strategies to minimise the impact.

“We used to be dependent on the American market but we have now diversified and found markets for our goods in others places like the Asean countries, China and countries other than the United States,” he said.

He also pointed out that Malaysia had a high level of savings and this could help the situation.

“Malaysians can invest inside the country and domestic consumption can drive the economy,” he said, adding that the country’s fundamentals remained strong.

On another matter involving the purported controversial helicopter purchase, Abdullah said he had not received the details of the Eurocopter deal.

“I am calling the Mindef (Defence Ministry) secretary-general about this. I don’t want to cause any confusion,” said Abdullah, who is also Defence Minister.

Earlier this month, Mentari Services Sdn Bhd chairman Capt (Rtd) Zahar Hashim alleged that the tender made during Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s tenure as Defence Minister to replace the aging Nuri helicopters had been too costly.

Capt Zahar claimed the Government could have saved almost RM1.5bil if it had bought the Kazan-M172 helicopters from Kelowna Flightcraft Ltd, the firm he represents, instead of buying Cougar EC-725s from the German-French firm, Eurocopter.

He said the Kazan-M172 met all the specifications required by the armed forces and cost RM898mil while the Cougar units cost the Government RM2.317bil.