I refer to the front-page article ‘Who’s to blame for the delay in LRT job?’ in one of the leading newspapers on Sunday, Oct 11, 2015. In that article, all the figures were pointing at George Kent, which specialises in the manufacturing of water meters, and which was awarded the billion ringgit LRT contract. George Kent has absolutely no experience in LRT construction.

How can you not blame George Kent for the delay?

The biggest culprit is the man who has the power to award the contract without open tender. Without open tender the contractor can easily mark up the price and share the additional money with whoever has the power to award the contract.

This sort of corruption is so common in Malaysia; for example the North-South Expressway which was awarded to a bumiputra contractor which had absolutely no experience in highway construction. Moreover, the multi billion ringgit contract was awarded without open tender and the contractor was allowed to collect toll to recover the construction cost with some profit.

As we know, we have been paying toll for a few decades. I am sure the amount of toll collected over the years is more than enough to reimburse the contractor. But no one knows when the toll collection will stop.

As a result of the rampant corruption, Malaysia is still not a fully developed country. In 1970 when the new economic policy was introduced our GDP per capita was the same as Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea.

After 45 years we are still not a developed nation while Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have become developed nations in spite of the fact that they all do not have the natural resources, such as petroleum, palm oil, tin and rubber. They do not even have timber to build their houses. Taiwan has highways all over the country and they do not need to collect toll because they are allegedly not so corrupted like Malaysia.

KOON YEW YIN, a retired chartered engineer, is a philanthropist.