For A New Conference, A New Auditorium ...
Malaysia
will host the OIC summit in Putra Jaya in 2003. The Prime Minister had gone to
its last, in Doha, demanding no less. But Putra Jaya has no auditorium without
superlatives to describe it. So, one would be built at speed, with money no
object, for RM1 billion, give or take a few hundred million as it is fine tuned to
garish opulence. No one can tell you how much it would eventually cost for not
even the builders cannot be sure since the plans get changed by the hour, week, month,
year. It would have been built with or without the OIC summit; but now that
it would, the collosal expenses can be justified. This was decided upon long
before it became the host for 2006. In his entourage to Doha was the architect who
would make this maniacal dream to reality. In his bungalow in Sungei Buloh is
spread the plans for this complex, to accommodate 135 or so heads of state, with
facilities to match. Those who have seen the plans are aghast at this new, as
usual, unmentioned project. I came to hear of it by accident, and the source
clamped up when I asked for more details.
Kuala Lumpur has
more conference halls than it knows what to do with it. First, the Putra World
Trade Centre, big enough for an international conference. But it lost its lustre
when other Malaysia Inc denizens attached conference facilities to their hotels -- the
Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel, the Palace of the Golden Horses. But every five-star
hotel can accommodate a few thousand people at a pinch for such meets. But we
have decided these are not good enough for the Sheikhs of Araby. It is a none-too-subtle
way to build facilities for Putra Jaya in stealth, out of parliamentary overview, by
cronies, courtiers and siblings. The Prime Minister's unconstitutional grab of
Putra Jaya from Selangor will result, as an afterthought, a grand palace for the Yang
Dipertuan Agung, a mere RM600 million, or not as grand as the Prime Ministerial palace,
which cost a mere RM200 on paper, but far more in fact. When structures like
these are built, cost is not relevant.
So, with each
international gathering, be it sports or conferences, the orgy of building begins
afresh. So, for the Commonwealth Games in 1998, a whole Games village was built
in the usual Bolehland way of allowing cronies to build it in return for choice land.
These would never be used except fitfully and rarely: the charges are so high
that even sports bodies ignore it, and they decay without maintence and use. If Malaysia
were to host the 2006 Asiad, at least a few hundred million ringgit would be needed to
bring these up to date.
Malaysia these day announce
projects faster than they can build it. If you tote up what is announced, it would be
about twice Renong's unpayable debt of RM26 billion. Does Malaysia have the money
to pay for it? It does not. Can it raise the money? It cannot.
This off-the-cuff projects come fast and furious to prove Malaysia can do them.
No one doubts she cannot. But can she pay for them? Is it necessary?
Why cannot existing facilities be upgraded or modernised? When structures are built
on a free hand, such important matters as how much would it cost to maintain it are
ignored. The KLCC reputedly costs RM1 million a month to maintain it. It
runs at a loss, barely a third of the 90 floots the two towers have occupied. The
privatisation of the highways, good in why it had to, went awry when those given it
made money by the droves in the runup to it, loading the concession company with the
huge overblown cost of construction made possible by building several layers of
subsidiaries to inflate cost until the fellow building it cannot do a good job.
The public pays for it in tolls increased regularly in sweetheart deals between the
government and its concessionaires, all of them, it need not be emphasised are cronies,
courtiers or siblings of the establishment. So would this auditorium, and other mega
projects in Putra Jaya. Would the audiotorium be built? Of course, it
would. It would be tacky as every structure built in a hurry where the object is
not why it is there: the lolly that would pass through greasy hands which the Prime
Minister insists is untrue.
M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my
