Melaka Monorail operator's contract terminated over agreement violation

MELAKA (Bernama): The Melaka Monorail service operator's contract has been terminated due to a violation of the agreement signed with the State Economic Development Unit (Upen), the state assembly was told Wednesday (Sept 22).

State Tourism, Heritage and Culture Committee chairman Datuk Muhammad Jailani Khamis said the main violation the operator committed was adding a new clause in the signed agreement to develop 15 lots of land around the station on Jalan Tun Ali Junction.

"The clause does not exist in the agreement signed with Upen on Aug 23, 2018... the one that should answer this issue is the Pakatan Harapan government, not us.

"Why do you want to link the issue to the credibility of the current government when the agreement was not signed during our administration?" he said in reply to Low Chee Leong (DAP-Kota Laksamana) during Question Time.

Low had earlier asked why the Melaka Monorail, which was one of the state's tourism icons developed in 2017, was no longer operational and deemed a failed project of the state government.

Elaborating, Muhammad Jailani said the operator had also failed to pay a commitment fee of RM100,000 to Upen to develop the project and had not paid 5% of the profit or a minimum of RM1,000 to Melaka Historic City Council since the contract began.

He said the company had also neglected safety aspects in operating the service, including leaving the windscreen blurry, cables exposed, with door locks and elevators dysfunctional and poorly maintained.

"Many terms and conditions were violated and we can no longer tolerate the violation as it does not only cause losses to the state government but also endangers public safety," he said.

Meanwhile, when replying to Low's question on the state government's plan to help the tourism players affected by Covid-19, Muhammad Jailani said the Chief Minister's Department (Tourism Promotion Division) had lined up various promotional programmes since July this year.

He said promotion also involved cooperation with the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry as well as tourism-related non-governmental organisations in the state.

Among the programmes that have and will be organised are the FB Live Relax @ Melaka every Saturday from July 24 to Sept 25, Dittam Virtual Travel Expo (Aug 27-29), Malaysia Inbound Tourism Association (Mita) Cuti-Cuti Malaysia with Shopee Travel Fair 2021 (September), Go Malaysia Virtual Fair (Sept 8 and 9) and the Virtual Tour by Melaka Tourist Guides Association (every weekend from October to December). – Bernama