Why the Change?

Published: Thursday January 26, 2012 MYT 11:00:00 PM

NFC project not a failure, says Noh Omar

KUALA SELANGOR: Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang's clarification on the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) project has proven that the project has not failed, said Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar..

"This is due to the National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp) project achieving its Key Performance Index of producing more than 8,000 heads of cattle over the three-year period since 2008.

"The Auditor-General's clarification on the NFC project is the same as the lengthy explanation I gave in Parliament earlier," he said after distributing the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) to eligible recipients in Bukit Belimbing.

Noh was commenting on the National Audit Department's (NAD) clarification yesterday that the Auditor-General's Report 2010 did not mention words such as chaotic, "in a mess" or misappropriation on the project in Gemas, Negri Sembilan.

Ambrin said in a statement that "these words were used by other parties and the NAD should not be held accountable".

Ambrin went on to say that in NAD's opinion, it was up to the authorities such as the police and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate if there were elements of misappropriation in the implementation of the project.

From an audit perspective, there were several weaknesses in the implementation of the project which caused the government to postpone it to May 2009, before the audit, pending a projection and business model done, he said.

Noh admitted there was a delay in the project, during the clearing of the 5,000-hectare site in Negeri Sembilan comprising 1,500 hectares to NFCorp, 500 hectares to another company and the rest of the land to the state government.

He said the opposition were clearly confused when they said the government had loaned RM250 million to the company before an agreement was signed.

"This is because there were two agreements with NFCorp, the first on Dec 6, 2007 with the Finance Ministry involving the RM250 million loan, and the second with the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry signed on March 8, 2010, when I was the minister.

"So, there was no way the loan would have been disbursed before the agreement was signed. The opposition were twisting the facts, saying the agreement was made in 2010 but didn't mention the one signed in 2007."

He said if there were any misappropriation in the project implementation, the ministry would leave it to the MACC to investigate.

"The project is not a failure. The ministry just has to reorganise it so that it is implemented in accordance with the terms of the agreement," he added. BERNAMA

Published: Tuesday March 27, 2012 MYT 9:07:00 PM

Tenders to be called to take over NFC: Noh Omar

KUALA LUMPUR: The government will invite tenders to take over the beef cattle rearing project from National Feedlot Corporation (NFC).

Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar said the government was serious in ensuring that the project could go on as proposed previously.

He said the proposal to invite other companies to carry on the project had been announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak previously and his deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had been asked to ensure that the project was continued.

"We have appointed an independent auditor because we are serious (to see that the project continues).

"We are also in the second stage of the process, that is to invite tenders for the project to be continued by any company that is interested," he said when winding up the motion of thanks on the Royal address for the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry at the Dewan Rakyat.

The issue on the NFC, which was headed by Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Salleh Ismail, cropped up when it was alleged to have misused the government allocation of RM250 million for the beef cattle rearing project.

On March 12, Dr Mohamed Salleh, the husband of Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here to two counts or criminal breach of trust involving RM49.7 million with regard to the purchase of two condominium units and two other charges under the Companies Act. BERNAMA

Why there is suddenly a change after exactly two months? If there is nothing wrong with the project why to we need to open new tender? We have already used RM 250 million and now we will be using more money with the new tender.  Who's money will be used?  Our taxpayer money?  If the project really achieved it's KPI why the need for new operator for the project?

This just don't make any sense!