Lim: Contract between CRCC and Penang govt legally binding

GEORGE TOWN: The Acknow­ledge­ment of Commitment from China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) is a legally binding document and it is officially stamped, said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

At a press conference in Komtar, Lim showed copies of signed documents that were stamped to journalists.

“The agreement was properly signed twice by CRCC. They signed the main agreement and later they gave another letter of commitment, where they signed again and it is an appendix attached as part of the main agreement.

“Even CRCC has admitted publicly that they are the main contractor, but you still say that the document signed was not a legally binding document,” Lim said in response to MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong’s statement on Tuesday that the Acknowled­gement of Commitment signed by the state government with CRCC was not a legally binding document.

Lim said yesterday, he initially did not want to answer the questions raised by Dr Wee because he had addressed the issues previously, but the state executive council wanted him to do so.

Meanwhile, Penang Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow stressed that there was no discrepancy in the three major roads and the undersea tunnel project as raised by Penang Barisan Nasional chairman Teng Chang Yeow.

“There are 19 consultancy firms for the three roads and 15 consultancy firms for the undersea tunnel project appointed by Consortium Zenith Construction.

“CRCC is one of the consultants responsible for tunnel engineering works and not the one and only consultant.

“Therefore, the state government would like to differ with Teng’s statement that CRCC was appointed for the feasibility studies and detailed design for the three major roads and tunnel project, which has a contract value of US$22mil.

“The US$22mil is part of the overall feasibility studies and detailed design valued at RM305mil,” he said.

Earlier, Teng said the contract value of the project was US$22mil, or RM69.3mil based on the 2013 exchange rate of RM3.15 to the US dollar.

He added that this was shown on the website of CRCC on Oct 12, 2013.