INTERVIEW Economics alone would prove that the embattled National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) will not be able to make the National Feedlot Centre project a success, says PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli.

In an interview with Malaysiakini last week, Rafizi explains why the project is not viable, and he sees it as a "disguise" for NFC's owners to gain access to the RM250 million soft loan.

The relevant sections of the interview transcript are as follows. Content has been edited for clarity and language. This is the first of a three-part interview.

You've seen NFC's operations in and out. What do you think is the main weakness that it cannot meet the target?

I don't think they ever meant to do the cattle-rearing business as their main business. I don't think they want the tender to do this because they want to support the National Feedlot Policy. It was very clear by the way they set up the operations and how the money was transferred to other operations and that the focus was placed on other operations.

I think they just used the National Feedlot Policy to get the RM250 million easy funding. Where on earth can you get a RM250 million loan without any collateral - and I was told without any personal guarantee - with extremely favourable repayment terms at two percent interest rate? Nowhere...