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GEORGE TOWN: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng yesterday gave his assurance that the government’s move to introduce the open tender concept would not affect the Bumiputera agenda.
In fact, he said, it would open more opportunities for Bumiputera contractors to secure projects fairly and transparently.
“What is in the Bumiputera agenda is still the same, but under open tender. This is unlike the past when one had to obtain the signature of certain parties or favour certain people. We do not want to see this happening again.
“I hope there will be no effects in open tender including among Class F contractors. When we practised it in Penang, we could see Bumiputera contractors really working. This is what I want to focus on,” he told reporters after presenting a briefing on Budget 2019 here last night.
He said through open tender, there would be no more direct negotiations or limited tender for certain projects including government projects such as those under Perbadanan Nasional Bhd and Majlis Amanah Rakyat.
Lim, who is Bagan MP, also denied the allegations of several Kelantan leaders that Budget 2019 did not give due attention to the development of east coast states.
He said such claims were completely baseless as the allocation provided for each state in the budget showed an increase, adding that the government had been fair without marginalising any state.
“For states, we raised (allocations) from RM27.9 billion to RM31.7 billion for development projects including in Kelantan. Not only was the allocation for Penang increased, Kelantan’s allocation was also raised from RM1,214 million to RM1,376 million.”
He also warned leaders, especially those from opposition parties, not to play up defamatory sentiments and hatred but to provide arguments based on facts and figures instead.
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