In a statement issued today, the board expressed its full confidence in Masnizam and her leadership.
The board also supported the various initiatives she has undertaken since taking office on Jan 18 this year.
“Always passionate in her work, Masnizam immediately commenced a host of innovative measures in line with her cost-cutting and revenue-generating programmes under a fresh initiative named ‘Inventing Prasarana 2.0’,” the statement said.
It said Masnizam first joined Prasarana as the head of the legal department in 2004 and was later promoted on merit to head of group procurement, head of group communications and strategic marketing, director of infrastructure services and CEO of Prasarana Integrated Management & Engineering Services (PRIME).
“Masnizam has displayed excellence in service with undisputed integrity, professionalism and passion in her work, which have drawn admiration from the board,” the statement said.
The board expressed regret over reports by the media which it said were mischievous and uncalled for, quoting an authoritative source whose name was not revealed.
This was especially so when various transformation measures were being undertaken in the interest of the group, especially on the much-highlighted LRT Line 3 (LRT3) project.
The statement said after taking over as the group CEO, the board had also requested Masnizam to report to the group’s chief integrity officer, who is a seconded officer from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), to investigate any anomaly in the procurement process for the project.
The statement said Prasarana’s senior management had last Friday submitted to the board a detailed historical report on the LRT3 project, which was then sent to the finance minister to provide a full perspective on the project.
In the letter to the minister, Prasarana also reaffirmed that the organisation would be guided by the government’s decision on the way forward for the project.
This was in the interest of the people and in uplifting further the standard of public transport systems and services in Greater Klang Valley, it added.
Earlier, it was reported that Prasarana would abide by the finance ministry’s instruction for reductions in the LRT3 project.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had said several changes were being made in what he called a “cost-cutting measure”. He said the construction schedule had been extended from 2020 to 2024 to further cut costs.
Three-car trains sets, instead of six-car sets, would be used, train depots made smaller, a 2km-long tunnel cancelled, and an underground station and five other stations are to be scrapped.
Lim said the Cabinet had approved a reduced project cost of RM16.6 billion. The original budget was RM31.65 billion.
LRT3 stretches 37km from Johan Setia, Klang, to Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya.
Smaller stations, fewer trains see RM15 billion off LRT3 price tag