Ketika ditanya, Noh mengakui bahawa projek berkenaan telah diberikan kepada anggota keluarga menteri pembangunan wanita, keluarga dan masyarakat, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.
Namun, Noh (kanan) menjelaskan bahawa penganugerahan projek berkenaan dibuat tanpa melanggar apa-apa peraturan."Ya, apa salahnya kalau dia meniaga dan dia bukan kerja direct nego (rundingan terus)?" soal Noh kembali ketika ditanya mengenai projek yang menurutnya telah dianugerahkan melalui "tender terbuka" itu.
Ditanya lanjut dalam sidang media di bangunan parlimen hari ini, Noh bagaimanapun bersetuju bahawa projek berkenaan telah diberikan secara tender terhad.
"Cara pemilihan syarikat yang dipilih untuk program National Feedlot ini bukan diberi secara rundingan terus. Semasa dibuka projek ini, ada enam syarikat buat persembahan kepada pihak jawatankuasa," katanya.
Daripada enam syarikat berkenaan, jawatankuasa kementerian pada 2006 telah memilih Agro Science Industries Sdn Bhd dan sebuah syarikat Australia, Lambert Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
"Lambert dia lari, dia tak sanggup buat. Kalau kita tengok laporan audit kata pagar runtuh itu semua sebab Lambert larilah tu," katanya lagi yang juga ahli parlimen Tanjong Karang dalam ucapan penggulungannya di Dewan Rakyat sebelum itu.
Ditanya dalam sidang media, Noh berkata sukar untuk mengambil tindakan ke atas Lambert kerana kerajaan tidak menandatangani apa-apa perjanjian dengan syarikat berkenaan. Kementerian juga sedang membincangkan untuk menawarkan tanah pajakan seluas 500 ekar yang ditinggalkan oleh Lambert itu kepada syarikat lain.
Tegasnya, projek feedlot berkenaan bukanlah satu projek gagal kerana syarikat Agro Science telah berjaya membekalkan sejumlah 8,016 ekor lembu sepanjang tempoh 2008 hingga 2010 seperti yang disasarkan. Bagaimanapun, kerajaan masih belum membayar sejumlah RM6.48 juta daripada jumlah geran sebanyak RM13 juta.
Laporan Audit Negara sebelum ini menyebut badan itu kekurangan 4,000 ekor lembu yang sepatutnya dibekalkan dan tindakan berkenaan menyebabkan program keusahawanan seperti yang disyaratkan oleh kerajaan tidak dapat dijalankan.
NFC juga enggan mengulas dakwaan PKR bahawa projek tersebut hanya memenuhi 0.6 peratus daripada permintaan kerajaan dan jauh ketinggalan daripada sasaran 40 peratus dalam Rancangan Malaysia Kesembilan.
'What's wrong with minister's kids in project?'
As far as the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry is concerned, there is "no conflict of interest" in the RM257 million soft loan awarded to the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC). Nor does the ministry have any concern over the viability or performance of the project.
"The project is not (by) direct nego (negotiation). We offered it out. Six companies came forward.
"Where is the conflict of interest if the loan award is decided upon by the selection committee?" Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Noh Omar (left) told Parliament today while winding up for the ministry during the policy stage of the Budget 2012 debate.
Noh also said that the Auditor-General's Report did not state any major issues with the project.
"If you look at the audit report, it does not say the project failed."
He argued that the report stated only that there are outstanding commitments by the government which have not yet been undelivered, which has caused some delays with the project.
"It's true... What's wrong with that?" he shot back when pressed by reporters.
The minister said that the selection committee which awarded the concession is not made up of one person, but staffed by experts who evaluated the merits of all the firms that bid for the project in 2006.
"It is not as if we awarded it direct to the company," he stressed.
He also defended the NFC for having youngsters on its board.
"We should be proud that there are youths who want to become cattle-herders."
Noh also said that the Auditor-General's Report did not state any major issues with the project.
"If you look at the audit report, it does not say the project failed."
Noh pointed to the concern of the audit report, which said only 5,742 heads of cattle had been slaughtered instead of the 8,000 targetted by 2010.
He explained that there is actually 8,016 heads of cattle in the NFC pens."Its just that they only slaughtered 5,742. This is because the abbattoir they used is small, as the government promised large scale abbattoir is still outstanding," reasoned Noh.
However, Noh admitted, the project is being scrutinised by the Finance Ministry as to whether the government is going to go ahead with it because of the slow early development of the project over the undelivered government commitments. The issue of the concessions granted to NFC has been fodder for the opposition which used it to attack the government with allegations of conflict of interest and a public funds sinkhole in the making.
source:malaysiakini
Putrajaya insists national cattle project a success
Comments...
FairMind - Nothing wrong? How stupid can this minister get? RM181 million of the loan and RM6.2 million of the grant has been given to slaughter (produce) only 7,542 cows? That comes to about RM24,821 per cow. If that is not failure I don't know what failure is!
tailek - RM250M soft loan given to deliver 8000 head of cattle. that comes to more than RM30K per head. What is this company suppose to deliver. Kobe beef ah? Bloody ridiculous
ASH - Sharizat's kids don't have interest in managing a cattle farm. They've used whatever grant they got to do other businesses including opening the MeatWorks restaurant in Solaris Mont Kiara and Ion Orchard Road, Singapore. It's more about the glitz and glamour than anything else.
tel - Let do some math, one cow take it as RM 1000.00. So 8000 minus 5742: 2258. So they are short of 2258 cows. 2258 times with RM 1000 equals to RM 2,258,000 ( 2 millions plus , for those of you have trouble to figure it out ). My calculation is base on the price of 1k per cow. I exclude the rest of the cost eg. transport etc. The figure can easily reach RM 5 millions. SO Misnister Noh, where are all the money went to???
DannyLoHH - I guessed, in Malaysia, there's nothing wrong with minister's kids in a government funded project, as depicted by Noh Omar. In any real democratic country, many heads would roll with such a revelation, including the good Agriculture Minister. But accountability and transparency is apparently foreign to this UMNO regime. Conflict of interests is the order of the day and Minister's kids should be encourage to undertake all government project in Malaysia under UMNO as it stands now. This is what Malaysians get for voting UMNO BN. We put into power a family of thieves that are plundering the nation coffer.
cheers.
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