A I S E H M A N . O R G

Q: A feature of the plan is the private financing initiative where there will be more opportunities for the private sector to take part in infrastructure and utilities development. Can you illustrate how the initiative will work?

A: The initiative has been around, but under the Plan, it is taken to another level.

For example, a developer wants to build medium-cost houses, but the piece of land he is eyeing belongs to the Government.

So what may happen is that he may approach the Government to buy the land and offer to pay on a structured basis.

At the same time, he may offer to build a district office and fire station and some other facilities for the Government.

Whatever money he receives from the Government will create more economic activity.

Another example is where the Government may tell the private sector to build and drive a university under the Southern Johor Economic Area.

On the Government’s part, it will assure the developer that a number of students will be enrolled there. [New Straits Times]

Like the Second Finance Minister says, this is nothing new.

We've seen this before, and you know what's wrong with the scheme?

That the developer might not even finish making those payments "on a structured basis" for the land if the development ends up being another "projek terbengkalai" or the houses don't sell.

That the cost of the "district office and fire station and some other facilities for the Government" would be inflated so as to minimise what the developer owes the Government.

And why should it be the business of the Government to ensure "that a number of students will be enrolled" in a university built and operated by a commercial entity?

The question is: Why is the Government unneccessarily taking on risks that in a market economy should be borne fully by the private sector?

I thought we were going to move from "short-term lucre to long-term wealth"?

... although cement mixers, cranes and tractors will spring into action all over the country in the next few years, don’t expect the Government and, ultimately taxpayers, to get ripped off in the process.

Yes, the private sector will benefit from the largesse of the 9MP, but it ain’t the same gravy train. Margins and rates of return for contracts and concessions must be reasonable.

For the 9MP to succeed, the leaks must be plugged. [New Straits Times]

Heh heh heh. It's only been, what ... three days? And we are already finding out that some leaks won't be plugged, and that some business will be as usual.

Still, KJ was telling you the truth when he said "it ain't the same gravy train", as they've given the old one a new coat of paint of a different colour.

Or maybe, in his earnestness to convince you that the National Mission is the Real Deal, it was a Freudian slip on Khairy's part.

How so?

Well, the gravy train doesn't need changing. It needs to be decommissioned.