People and events in 2020 – Part 6

Lim Kang Hoo’s Bandar Malaysia – contributing to oversupply

The Bandar Malaysia project is being revitalised at a time when economic conditions are challenging. There is an oversupply of property resulting in easing prices and yields.

When the revival of Bandar Malaysia was announced by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on April 19 last year, he said the termination of the contract was done unfairly.

Thus, it will be built by the same developer – the Iskandar Waterfront Holdings-China Railway Engineering Corp (IWH-CREC) Consortium.

According to a news report dated May 11, 2017, the mega project was abruptly terminated by the Barisan Nasional government which cited a breach in the terms of the contract when the developer repeatedly failed to meet payment obligations.

IWH is owned by Tan Sri Lim Kang Hoo. His consortium and CREC won the RM7.41 bil Bandar Malaysia project bid before their contract was terminated by the Ministry of Finance.

The Loaf

But there is an interesting connection between Lim and Mahathir subsequent to the revival of the project.

Mahathir owned a popular bakery called The Loaf. According to reports in April last year, a construction company Ekovest Bhd through its subsidiary Duke Dining Sdn Bhd bought the entire Loaf shares and reopened four new outlets last year.

The Loaf was a joint venture with a Japanese company called Motoko Resources Sdn Bhd, and Mahathir, who owned a 51% stake. It closed down all its 12 outlets in April 2018 after 12 years in business. But who owns Ekovest? Lim Kang Hoo.

IWH-CREC is a 60:40 joint venture between IWH and China’s state-owned CREC. Lim holds a 63% stake in IWH and Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor Sdn Bhd the remaining 37%.

Bandar Malaysia will also include the construction of a people’s park and 10,000 units of affordable homes, and there will also be Bumiputera participation at all levels and local content will be used in the construction process.

The project is expected to generate a tremendous impact on urban development for Malaysia, drawing foreign direct investments and generating an expected gross development value of RM140 bil.

On May 28, 2011, the Bandar Malaysia project was announced by then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in what was a public-private partnership.

The project has an estimated cumulative gross development value of RM150 bil. The master planner appointed for architecture drawing was Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP.

The site of Bandar Malaysia is the Sungai Besi Airport which acted as the Royal Malaysian Air Force base which is relocated to Sendayan in Negeri Sembilan at a cost of RM2.7 bil. Part of the cost or RM1.1 bil is funded by the government and the rest by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Bandar Malaysia was planned as a central transport hub for the high-speed rail to Singapore (KL HSR), Mass Rapid Transit, KTM Komuter, Express Rail Link and 12 other highways. However, the HSR is currently on hold. – by Sharina Ahmad

 

Redzuan: Droning on about a flying car

Minister of Entrepreneur Development Datuk Seri Redzuan Yusof is an ambitious guy. He is on a mission for Malaysia to have its own flying car. If he succeeds, we would set the record as the first country to have a flying car.

But there is little that Redzuan has done for improving the lot of entrepreneurs. There are so many areas that need to be developed for the benefit of entrepreneurs but for the minister, the flying car seems to be the way forward.

There are ample opportunities for entrepreneur development in the digital economy, green technology and agriculture, to name a few.

To make matters worse, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has alleged that RM20 mil of taxpayer money was used for the project.

Even leading car manufacturing countries such as Japan, Germany and the US have not fully embarked on developing a flying car but Malaysia with the wisdom of Redzuan seems dead set on it.

Despite public outcry on the matter, Redzuan was reported to have said that 85% of the flying car would be ready by the end of 2019.

Malaysia does not have a glorious history of manufacturing cars. Proton, which started as a government endeavor, had to receive numerous bailouts just to keep afloat, before China’s Geely bought a substantial stake in the company.

What would be the commercial viability of the flying car? Would people be motivated to buy a flying car when its cost would be exorbitant? What about safety factors? What flight path would it follow? Who would set the course?

Even with all of that, will the cars be safe? How do you minimise crashes? What qualifications would drivers have? Will they have to learn for years before they get qualified to fly a car? Which authority will control the flying cars? Will insurance companies provide coverage for the driver and passengers of the flying car given the heightened risk?

From the outset, it seems that the flying car project has moved on without much strategic planning on issues affecting it. It’s beginning to look like a far-fetched idea devoid of meticulous planning.

The economy is challenging and the government should be prudent in its spending, If indeed public funds were used by the government to finance the flying car project, then it should immediately abort the project.

Redzuan in his justification says the project would spur the economy by providing linkages but this is a weak argument. So much more could be done to provide a catalyst to the economy than take on a frivolous project.

The PAC findings revealed that the announcement on the flying car development project by the minister was done too early without detailed planning or informing the Cabinet about it. It adds that Redzuan had promoted the project as a national one when it was a private initiative.

Redzuan should be admonished if it’s indeed true that he used public funds for a private initiative. Malaysia should focus on projects that add value and not those that have no real value add to the already slowing economy. – by Ranjit Singh

 

Anthony Loke, leave the gig economy alone

Transport Minister Anthony Loke has become a bit of a boogeyman when it comes to the topic of the gig economy, especially on the issue of e-hailing services.

It all started way back when, at a time when Pakatan Harapan took a surprise victory in the general election to oust Barisan Nasional and take over the government. Loke stated that he was honoured to take up the mantle of Transport Minister, and that he understands “the magnitude of the role and the importance of the Transport Ministry.”

“I will do my job to the best of my ability,” promised Loke.

Two months later, the drama that is the e-hailing saga began. In July 2018, Loke announced that the government, through the Ministry of Transport, will be regulating e-hailing operators in addition to taxi operators, with e-hailing companies required to register with the (then) Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), with a set of regulations that they had to comply with.

However, this has ended up as a year-long debacle peppered liberally with contradictory statements between the minister and the spanking new Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) about the enforcement of the regulations, which has caused no small amount of confusion for e-hailing drivers.

Seems like the decision to dismiss the RM800,000 “ministerial communications programme” contract might have been a bit of a hasty decision, considering the need for communication between the minister and the enforcement agency. Yes, yes, the contract was supposed to be for communications between the minister and the media for a weekly column in a newspaper, but could it not have been repurposed to enhance communications between the minister and APAD? It is called a “ministerial communications programme” after all!

Furthermore, the implementation of the Public Service Vehicle (PSV) rule has caused its own set of issues, of which the foremost issue is that it represents a barrier, a road block if you will, to people entering the gig economy through being an e-hailing driver.

It seems that, in the interest of “fairness” to taxi drivers, the transport minister is bending over backwards to place ill-thought-out and restrictive barriers to a large portion of the gig economy, through which there are a large number of Malaysians earning their daily bread.

Another issue here is the case of drivers who are Persons With Disabilities (PWDs). Yes, e-hailing drivers do count PWDs among their number, and this segment of drivers in particular are again getting the short end of the stick from the PSV requirements.

Yes, Loke had declared that PWD drivers would be able to apply for PSV licences from May 2019, thus amending existing regulations to allow the drivers this particular means of livelihood.

However, the kicker is that the letter does not meet the spirit of the law, as there are some PWD drivers who have been disqualified from getting their PSVs after undergoing the whole process.

This comes from the point that mobility-impaired PWDs have a driving licence which only allows them to drive vehicles that have been modified to their needs.

So cheers once again, Loke, for trying, and rather spectacularly bumbling, the law you put in place to regulate e-hailing. There is something to be said about not fixing what is not broken, so please stop trying to fix this, and let the people work in peace.

Unfortunately, there just does not seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel in the coming year, so chins up, e-hailing teams! We’re rooting for you! – by Xavier Kong

People and events in 2020 – Part 1

People and events in 2020 – Part 2

People and events in 2020 – Part 3

People and events in 2020 – Part 4

People and events in 2020 – Part 5

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