9MP : Inject 30Bil, Penang Lost 3.5 Bil Malaysiakini

Malaysiakini reports, Abdullah launches mid-term review of 9MP, Gov't injects extra RM30 bil into 9MP and Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister's Department today said that the RM2 billion Penang Monorail and RM1.5 billion Penang Outer Ring Road have been shelved.

You can read Malaysiakini report here, here and here.

I am not sure whether Abdullah understand what he is reading on the mid-term review of the 9MP. I am no economist and what I understand is neither is Abdullah who graduated as an islamic or religious scholar.

The text he is reading must be prepared by someone else who may or may not be an economist as well.

I have no taste to go through all these details on the 9MP, moreover I could not understand how the planning goes about.

I would appreciate if some economists who read this post, may highlight or explain what I am writting below is right or wrong.

If I am not wrong, the RM2 billion Penang Monorail and RM1.5 billion Penang Outer Ring Road had already being factored into the 9MP just like the Penang second bridge. With the mid-term review of the 9MP, RM3.5 Billion of Penang development were shelved even though there is an injection of an addition of RM30 billion.

Najib is quick to declare that this is not a punishment due to the State falling into the hand of Pakatan Rakyat.

As Penang CM Lim Guan Eng expressed, why the Federal Government did not discuss with the State first.

Penang badly need an improvement on the public transportations and infrastructures and I see no reason why these two projects have to be shelved. It is not a useless mega projects like the super corridoors launch by Abdullah.

As a Penangnite I would say that the Penang second bridge should be shelved instead of these two projects.

To summarise, I see the Federal Government under BN is really going out to punish those States under Pakatan Rakyat.

Seeing the danger of losing MPs from the Eastern States of Sabah and Sarawak, they are pumping more RM to these two States by shelving important and urgent development projects from States under Pakatan Rakyat rules.

And lastly, why shelved these two projects which cost only RM3.5 billion when and injection of RM30 billion is in placed?