Wee said one of the reasons was that the government would be able to save RM80 million on the project by appointing CRRC.

“The company offered 22% lower than what the ministry estimated would be the cost,” he said when replying to Loke Siew Fook (PH-Seremban) in the Dewan Rakyat.

Loke, who is a former transport minister, had asked about the acquisition of rolling stocks for the project, including the cost and the supplier.

He said the previous Pakatan Harapan government had carried out an open tender for the project, and asked Wee to justify why CRRC was picked through direct negotiations when it did not pass the evaluation based on finances and technical aspects.

Wee said he also questioned why the companies did not pass the financial and technical evaluation, adding that the lowest bid was RM456 million.

“I was shocked when I found out that the specs we had asked for were impossible to achieve, which was why they (CRRC) wrote a letter to us,” he said.

He said one of the issues involved the placement of the auxiliary batteries. “Placing the auxiliary batteries front and back was illogical. If we put that (as a requirement), no company in the world could do it,” he said.

He said he brought the issues up to the finance ministry and found that CRRC fulfilled both the financial and technical conditions.