COMMENT | It took 12 years for the Port Klang Authority (PKA) to go from the conceptual stage to completion, during which it was under three prime ministers, four transport ministers, and five chairpersons.
The hole left behind in the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) development was a whopping RM12.4 billion, which taxpayers continue to pay in instalments.
The damning report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2009 concluded that the financial viability of the PKFZ was highly uncertain, as the project was not generating sufficient revenue to cover its operating expenses.
The report also identified the (errant) major players, weaknesses in the system, and shortcomings in the execution, which I had then termed an “index of shame”.
The then-opposition leader Lim Kit Siang argued with the then-transport minister Ong Tee Keat almost daily, picking up key points in the report.
When the PKA board of directors subsequently met to discuss the report, former PKA general manager M Rajasingam moved a resolution to take legal action against 49 previous directors who, at one time or another, served in the preceding years.