Samy makes about turn on 'toll secrets'

KUALA LUMPUR (July 9, 2007): The government has decided that it is "inappropriate" to make public the agreements signed between the government and highway concessionaires, said Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.
"The government has studied the matter in detail and has decided it is inappropriate to reveal the concession agreements to the public," he said in a written reply to Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) in the Dewan Rakyat (Parliament) today.
This is the second time that the minister has made contradictory statements on the matter.
On Feb 18, he was reported as saying the prime minister had approved in principle for the concession agreements for all highways to be made public.
"I had mentioned it in the cabinet on Feb 7 and the prime minister (Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) asked me to submit the working paper. Now I have already got the approval (to make the agreements public)," he had said.
However, earlier in January, Samy also said the cabinet was not prepared to make public all toll agreements.
In his reply to Lim, Samy Vellusaid the government would face possible legal actions should it reveal the agreements to the public without consent from the highway concessionaires.
He said all the concession agreements were classified as "government secret" documents under the Official Secrets Act 1972.
"The documents also contain the provision of 'confidentiality', which means a consent must be obtained from the concessionaires before the agreements can be made public," he said.
In another development, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz said the ministry had only issued 39,521 Approved Permits (AP) (38,545 permits to companies and 976 to individuals) last year.
In a written reply to Lim, she said 52, 718 APs (51,713 to companies and 1,005 to individuals) and 58,248 (57,267 to companies and 981 to individuals) had been issued respectively in 2004 and 2005.
"The number of APs issued to the companies which are APs holders had declined last year because several models under KIA, Hyundai and Ssangyong were assembled in the country as CKD (completely knocked-down) vehicles," she said.
"It was also due to the slow car market because of the decreasing price of second-hand cars and difficulties in obtaining loan."

tunku : what to expect from the hp6 government??today they'll say something, tomorrow they'll tell different story.the problem is the pm don't know anything. after sometimes then only they'll realize.and talk about samy, if you know samy vellu then the news above is not a news.