SHAH ALAM, 27 June: The Selangor Government’s policy of implementing open tenders for projects handled by the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Government has managed to provide savings up to RM100 million a year.

The Selangor Executive Councillor for Infrastructure and Public Amenities, Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi, said that the savings has enabled the State Government to channel the surplus to other development projects to be enjoyed by the people of Selangor.

“We do not want low prices that bring a loss to contractors, but it must not be excessive profits.

“The open tender policy saves the people’s money, as recorded in 2012, which showed a savings of over RM100 million and the surplus can be channelled to other projects,” said Dr Ahmad Yunus when contacted by Selangor Kini today.

In an effort to increase efficiency and transparency in the financial management of the state, since 2008, Selangor under the Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, managed to eliminate the practice of awarding projects or direct negotiations with any company.

The measures taken have yielded significant positive impacts on the state finances.

An obvious example is where today, the State Government is able to build two mosques at a cost of RM10 million compared to only one mosque in the era of Barisan Nasional (BN), with the same specifications.

Apart from that, Abdul Khalid also eliminated the middleman who collects ‘profit from air’ in State Government projects.

Among the moves is to terminate the garbage collection contract of Alam Flora Sdn Bhd and opening the tender to other companies that are interested.

Interested companies are also required to operate their own garbage collection, and not leave it to a third party.

NS