FT minister targets Umno-controlled contract ‘cartels’ in DBKL

PUTRAJAYA (Jan 31): Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad is targeting contract “cartels” in Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) he believes are mostly controlled by Umno party members, reported The Malay Mail yesterday.

 “We actually want to break up the cartels which entered DBKL. This is one of my visions as the Federal Territories minister, which has DBKL under my portfolio,” Khalid told a special meeting with the media yesterday.

*FT minister reveals alleged irregularities in two projects on government land

Khalid revealed that DBKL makes annual allocations of RM60 million for river-cleaning projects in KL and it was given “to the same group of 30 contractors who earned approximately RM2 million each” before the change of administration in Putrajaya, the news portal reported.

He claimed this source of monies was used to “finance Umno members for a long time”.

“That’s why there’s a cartel, they control DBKL. We believe so, because the ones making noise are all Umno people,” said Khalid.

The FT minister added that DBKL has now “engaged new and credible companies following a re-evaluation of its existing pool of contractors”.

Khalid also revealed alleged irregularities and abuse of power pertaining to the construction of two buildings to be carried out on government-owned land in Kuala Lumpur.

He said it involved the Kompleks Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba at Lot 33600, Jalan KuchaiJaya 1, in Petaling and Kompleks Yayasan Wangsa Perdana’s Dewan Shazac Bistari at Lot 27679 Jalan Gombak, in Setapak.