DAP lawmaker Tony Pua has accused Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan of attempting to deflect questions and criticism on the RM55 billion East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) project.

He said the minister described the project as a “domestic investment with foreign funding” when the questions were on the reason for the ECRL contract being a direct negotiation with a China firm and if it is foreign or locally owned.

Pua was responding to Rahman's (photo) remarks concerning the questions posed by former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, who is a close associate of Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Among others, Daim had questioned if China had made an investment or issued a loan with regard to the ECRL.

“If it is a loan, that means we have to pay (it) back. If you have to pay (it) back, does this mean it is an investment? If you were an investor, what would you say? It is not (an investment), it is a loan,” he said.

Rahman then responded if Daim or Bersatu would be “happier” if foreigners owned and operated the ECRL instead.

The minister's response, according to Pua, was an attempt at being “disingenuous”.

“The fact is while ECRL is an infrastructure project funded with foreign debt, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and other cabinet ministers often use the project as an example of Malaysia's ability to attract sizeable investments from China,” he said in a statement.

Pua said Daim was merely trying to correct the “managed perception” with regard to these massive projects – as not investments from China but colossal debts which have to be repaid by Malaysians in the future.

“The question isn't whether Mahathir, Daim (photo) or any Malaysian for that matter would be glad if foreigners own and operated the ECRL.

“Instead, Malaysians would be ‘happier’ if the ECRL project was tendered openly and competitively so that our tax-payers would receive the best value for our ringgit,” he added.

Reiterating the question regarding the absence of a competitive tender for a project of such magnitude, Pua said this, in turn, begged the question of who would truly profit from this contract.

“It has already been exposed that the government's own appointed engineering consultants HSS Integrated (HSSI) estimated in December 2015 that the project's value was RM29 billion (RM53.2 million per km), whereas the China-owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) was awarded the contract at RM55 billion (RM91.7 million per km).

“We have demanded the HSSI report to be made public and Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai promised in Parliament in November 2016 to 'publish' the feasibility study when it is 'finalised'. However, the HSSI report remains a secret document with the BN government.

“The question which remains unanswered to date – if ECRL were to cost RM30 billion or less, why was CCCC awarded the contract via direct negotiation for RM55 billion, even if there were so-called favourable financing terms?

“Where would the excess RM25 billion go to? Would it be used to pay-off some of 1MDB’s debts as speculated?” he asked.