Wednesday, June 16, 2010

What to DO with this BANKRUPSI NEGARA Government?



Instead of scrapping the historic Parliament House and moving to the "white elephant" Putrajaya Convention Centre, I suggest we have a more elegant solution - just scrap the BN government in the next General Elections.
If you read this article from the Malaysian Insider, the Bankrupsi Negara government has another hare-brained idea as Cabinet now mulls PICC as new Parliament House.

You will get the following facts from the MI article:
1.They renovated Parliament House for RM100mil just 5 years ago.
2.PICC was built for RM600mil and is a "white elephant" according to the minister.
3.It will cost another RM150mil "to repair" Parliament House, presumably to also allow more MPs to be seated.
4.It will cost "at least RM50mil" to renovate a temporary building.

The minister left out important details for his cost estimates. Are all these prices based on proper workouts of BQs or more the "I help you, you help me" crony contracts?
Why were the extra seats not planned for when the PH was renovated 5 years ago? Are the roofs still in danger of collapsing?

Instead of just criticing the Bankrupsi Negara government, I would like to offer the following solution to the problem.
The 2 photos offer a solution that will cost less than RM12mil during the time it takes to renovate and repair Parliament House, the bill for which should be properly calculated and subject to open tender.
The first photo shows the UK Parliament where no tables are provided and MPs are not hidden behind high compartment. (for dozing off or surfing?)Notice how the Speaker is also seated at the same level as MPs and not enthroned as in Malaysia.
I suggest a convention hall(even PICC) can be hired for say RM12mil for 12 months and the existing furniture from PH be relocated there.
By adopting the UK style of seating, the capacity of PH can be increased by about 20%without enlarging the building and that reduces costs.
So the main costs for the expansion would be to order new upholstered seats that should not cost more than RM2000 per seat. At present we have 222MPs so we should cater for 300 seats. Include microphone etc let's work on a budget of RM2500x300 or RM750,000.
The minister should be asked to provide the details of what constitutes the RM150mil repairs as the number looks rather dodgy.

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