Gamuda’s unwillingness to cooperate with the federal government’s move to acquire Selangor water operations shows that Gamuda is placing its interest above the rakyat’s, say Pakatan MPs.
In a joint statement today Tony Pua, Rafizi Ramli and Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad accused Gamuda of “holding Selangor citizens ransom” in order to maximise their shareholder profits.
The MPs hit out against Gamuda Berhad’s chief Lin Yun Ling for the latter’s comments on the government’s possible invoking of Water Services Industry Act 2006 (WSIA) to acquire the Selangor water operations.
The Pakatan MPs explained that according to these terms, in the event of terminating the concession, the Government will have to compensate the concessionaire by acquiring the value of the water assets under the concession, as well as to ensure that the concessionaire will receive a mininum return of 12% per annum for the previous years of operations.
“The Government is not even legally obliged to take over the loans which have been undertaken by the concessionaires, as the Federal Government has done for SPLASH,” they added.
Lin’s refusal to honour the contract had shown that he wanted unreasonable returns for his shareholders, they said.
“Hence, Lin isn’t only refusing to honour the sanctity of the concession contracts, he wants to defy the law which was drafted by the BN Government in consultation with the privatised water industry players.
“Lin wants the water deal inked not on a “willing buyer, willing seller” basis. He wants a “delirious seller, extorted buyer” deal,” said Rafizi Ramli, Tony Pua and Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad who also asserted that the state government had tried its best to conduct a “willing buyer, willing seller” deal for the past 6 years but without success.
