The MCA presidential council meeting yesterday endorsed a proposed move by its Youth wing to draw up a comprehensive conceptual paper for the government’s consideration to acquire the Plus highway.

chua tee yong The decision was made following a detailed presentation on facts and figures by MP for Labis Chua Tee Yong who was invited by party president Ong Tee Keat to brief the presidential council on the proposal.

Chua, a chartered accountant and former chief financial officer to a government-linked company, is also the son of deputy president Chua Soi Lek.

Announcing details on the drawing up of the conceptual paper and feasibility study to “nationalise” the expressway concessionaire, MCA Youth chief Wee Ka Siong said: “The MCA Youth will set up a legal team to be headed by Wong Nai Chee (a lawyer by profession and Youth CC member) to look into the legal aspects and concession agreements of 22 expressways in the country.

Wong Nai Chee, from Malacca, is also the MCA Public Services and Complaints bureau chairman.

Wee said: “The council has also decided to incorporate Chua’s professional views on the financial or accounting aspects into the legal team’s study proposal under MCA Youth.”

plus highway 181108 Chua who had previously presented a briefing in Parliament on Feb 26 last month on his proposal to the government to nationalise Plus, said that his proposal would bring about political advantages in terms of transparency and mitigate some of the lopsided terms in the concessionaire agreement.

In his briefing, Chua said that based on media reports, the total cost of the construction of the Plus highway was RM5.94 billion and the government would have to spend between RM4.55 billion to RM5.2 billion to acquire approximately 1.3 billion remaining shares from the open market, assuming the price hovers between RM3.50 to RM4.00 per share.

More in-depth analysis coming

According to media reports, UEM Group Bhd, the toll concessionaire for Plus is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Bhd. Taking into account Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and Khazanah shares, the government has an effective interest of 74 per cent in Plus.

wee ka siong Explaining the party’s move, Wee Ka Siong said that the MCA Cabinet ministers want to see changes made in the concessionaire’s agreement.

“In the near future, we (MCA Youth) will come out with more detailed and in-depth analysis by incorporating the financial and legal aspects before drawing up a (complete) proposal for submission to the party leadership, especially through the efforts of the party president and the MCA ministers in Cabinet,” said Wee, adding that he hoped the report would be finalised sometime this month.

Wee said meetings would commence this week to compile the draft report before submitting it for further deliberation by the council.

wong foon meng On other matters, secretary-general Wong Foon Meng said that the presidential council had also agreed to undertake reforms within the party as announced by the party’s president Ong Tee Keat during the 60th anniversary celebration over the weekend.

“A party reform committee would be established and headed by the president (Ong Tee Keat).

“The next step for the party under this committee is to deal with three main struggles (categories), namely, economics, politics and racial harmony,” the secretary-general said.

Wong added that the committee line-up, its role and functions would be decided at a later stage.

Deputy president Chua Soi Lek did not attend the presidential council meeting and the press conference was chaired by secretary-general Wong.