KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim attacked the Najib administration for going down the mega projects track to boost the economy, saying BN’s obsession with “grandeur” marks its imminent fall.“The government's excitement to display grandeur, that will be the sign of the fall of their empire. We will pray for this,” the Opposition Leader told the august House in his debate speech on Budget 2011 in Parliament this morning.
Opposition lawmakers in the House thumped on their tables in rapturous response.
“This rush for symbolic mega projects, supposedly to portray pride for the country, is being repeated now under the present Prime Minister
“Here I would like to question the wisdom of Permodalan Nasional Bhd's order from the government to involve itself in mega projects,” he said.
Anwar was referring to the 100-storey Warisan Merdeka skyscraper proposal by the government which is expected to cost over RM5 billion for construction.
When completed, it is to be the tallest building in Malaysia, surpassing even the Petronas Twin Towers. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had unveiled the government's plans for the structure when tabling Budget 2011 last Friday, along with a slew of other mega-projects set to stimulate the country's economy.
“The construction cost of the Twin Towers already took about RM6 billion. This is not inclusive of the land cost of RM900 million, KLCC park RM200 million, the Petronas Philharmonic hall RM500 million and the district cooling gas plant RM300 million.
“The total cost was more than RM10 billion and even then, it is not inclusive of the maintenance cost of RM250 million annually. Is this a pride of the nation? Do we need another 100-story tower in Malaysia?” he questioned.
The RM5 billion proposed for Warisan Merdeka project, Anwar pointed out, could go for the construction of at least 1,667 more schools, at a cost of RM3 million each.
“But no, that is not important. What is more important is this show of grandiose,” he jibed. - TMI
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