TRANSIT notes this article that says that, according to the Public Accounts Committee, their investigation of the RM1.14 billion overrun of the Rawang-Ipoh Electrification & Double Tracking (EDT) project has shown no financial irregularities.
- Article: Azmi: No irregularities found in rail project (NST)
- Letter: Double-tracking project cost overrun: Let’s have the details (Malaysiakini)
TRANSIT Says:
No irregularities…no corruption…just tedious management practices and poor project management causing major delays.
The most obvious of those delays would be the delay in the purchase of the EMU trainsets so that they could arrive quickly and start operating on the newly electrified double track.
The first of the ETS has now arrived in Malaysia and the rest will arrive early in 2010. After testing & commissioning, the ETS service from Ipoh-KL-Seremban should be operating in May 2010.
May 2010 is 3 years after the electricity on the EDT project was fully energized meaning that the EDT project was effectively completed.
With proper testing of the rail and testing and commission of the trains, the Express Train Service between Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh could have been running in time for Merdeka Day, 2007 – the 50th Anniversary of the Independence of Malaya, and would certainly have been available during the bulan Ramadan which followed!
