This is the latest “update” from the Treasury secretary-general on behalf of the finance ministry.
The Bandar Malaysia project, owned by 1MDB, was originally awarded to China Railway Engineering Corp (CREC) and its Malaysian partner, IWH, in December 2015 in a RM7.4 billion deal which some quarters claimed was to help raise funds to tackle 1MDB’s massive debt burden.
However, on May 3 this year, TRX City Sdn Bhd which comes under the finance ministry, announced that the share sale agreement with Beijing’s CREC and IWH regarding the sale of 60% of Bandar Malaysia’s issued and paid-up capital had lapsed and was, therefore, terminated.
The finance ministry then launched a request for proposal (RFP) on July 5, with a deadline of July 20. This was followed by Irwan giving an update in August that six companies showed interest, and had even visited the Bandar Malaysia project site.
However, when asked about any update on a successful bidder, Irwan, who is also chairman of Bandar Malaysia, told CNA that there was nothing more to report.
“When the time comes I’ll come to the press… because we are still negotiating,” he was quoted as saying by the regional news broadcaster.
Last month, Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua had suggested there was a lack of interest from global firms for the “overpriced” project, since Irwan’s update in August.
“It has been quiet on that front ever since. The ministry should stop daydreaming and start getting real.
“The (previously) so-called interested parties were either not that interested, or were not willing to offer anything close to the finance ministry’s overpriced valuation of Bandar Malaysia.
“Why would any global company in their right mind offer anything more for Bandar Malaysia, especially when they also know that the ministry is rather desperate to make the sale?” Pua said at a press conference in Parliament on Nov 14.
Strong interest in the Bandar Malaysia project was also expected due to it being the main terminal for the multi-billion-dollar high-speed rail (HSR) project that connects Kuala Lumpur with Singapore.
Bandar Malaysia’s RFP exercise was open only to Fortune 500 companies with a combined revenue of RM50 billion or more in the past three years.
Last week, at the Umno general assembly, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin had cited the Bandar Malaysia project as one of a few mega projects that showed the vision of Prime Minister Najib Razak in thinking about the future of the country.