MEDIA STATEMENT: ON THE CANCELLATION OF KLINIK USJ 1 PROJECT I have received a written reply from the Minister of Health on the status of the Klinik Kesihatan USJ1. The minister in his reply, stated that while the project was approved under Rancangan Malaysia Kedua Belas (RMK-12), the project has since been cancelled by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) on 4th August 2021. The EPU is under the Prime Minister’s Department. The reason given by the EPU is that the project cost is too high at RM67.8 million. The reply also noted that the original budget for the project under RMK-12 was RM45 million. The following are my comments to the cancellation of the project:
The reasoning given by the EPU in cancelling the project is unacceptable. If the project was originally approved for RM45 million, then the EPU must continue the project on the original cost RM45 million. The higher budget of RM67.8 million requested by Ministry of Health (MoH), should not be an excuse to cancel the project completely.
The MoH should also explain why it requested for a higher budget of RM67.8 million than the original RM45 million. More importantly, after failing to receive an approval from EPU for a budget increase, why did the MoH fail to insist on getting the project going as per the original RM45 million costing?
The excuse used to justify the cancellation of the project makes a complete mockery of the government budgetary process. It is also contradictory to the promises made by the prime minister under RMK-12, rendering the national RMK masterplan a document of little importance and consequence.
The inability of both MoH and EPU to resolve this matter logically and get the project going at the original RM45 million shows a complete breakdown of communication and cooperation between the two ministries.
This Klinik Kesihatan project has been requested by the people of Subang for more than a decade, and the people of Subang have been abundantly patient. I want to remind the government that in the latest census of 2020, the total population of Parliament Subang stands at 478,000 people and there is not one single Hospital Kerajaan or Klinik Kesihatan within the constituency. Lastly, I appeal to the prime minister to personally intervene and resolve this budgetary and administrative mess between the EPU and MoH. He must ensure that the original RM45 million project continues as promised under RMK-12. YB Wong Chen Member of Parliament for Subang 31 March 2022