The Auditor-General and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will jointly monitor the Klang Valley MRT (KVMRT) project to ensure that it complies with the integrity pact signed between the project’s owner and operator Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad, the main contractor Gamuda-MMC and all other contractors said Pemandu on Thursday.

The KVMRT project is considered the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken in Malaysia and the first phase alone has been estimated to cost upwards of RM20 billion.

Pemandu said in a briefing on Thursday that the MRT project is the first to implement the government’s enhanced integrity pact programme which was announced in April last year.

The use of intermediaries or agents were also highlighted by Pemandu as one of the practices that the pact is trying to discourage in the KVMRT project and any payment to intermediaries will have to be declared as such.

The integrity pact programme is one of the initiatives under Pemandu’s National Key Result Area (NKRA) to combat corruption.

The guidelines issued by the Ministry of Finance state that those who sign the pact will be committed to not engage in any acts of corruption.

Several specific aims were also outlined by the pact guidelines which include preventing potential project bidders from offering or giving bribes, encouraging bidders to report corruption to the authorities and ensuring that the government does not bear any “unnecessary costs” in procurement.

The guidelines also state that the pact will eliminate common forms of corruption in the government that include kick-backs and bribes between public officials and contractors, conflicts of interest and abuse of power by those in public office, false claims and declarations, falsification of documents and records to distort the value of procurement contracts and collusion between contractors and government officers.

The pre-qualification of contractors for the elevated and underground portion of the MRT have already closed while the pre-qualification for the track and rolling stock contracts will be in the third quarter of the year.

A one-stop procurement committee will decide on the award of work packages. The prime minister will chair meetings deciding on contracts worth RM300 million and above, and Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Husni Hanadzlah will be chairing meetings deciding on contracts worth RM50 million to RM300 million.

The secretary-general of Treasury will chair meetings deciding on contracts below RM50 million. – The Malaysian Insider