‘Govt must ensure that what happened is not repeated’
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s initial investment in London’s Battersea Power Station project was too high and led to losses – but efforts are ongoing to turn it around.
However, the country must learn lessons from the episode, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
More than £5bil (RM27.237bil) has been invested in the development by Malaysian shareholders to date.
“I agree with the calls and criticisms regarding certain decisions made in the past about the investment. Although efforts are now being made to turn things around, the initial investment was too high and incurred losses.
“The project is now being rehabilitated, and we must ensure what happened at Battersea is not repeated,” he said during Prime Minister’s Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
Anwar was responding to Hassan Abdul Karim (PH-Pasir Gudang), who questioned the billions of ringgit invested in the Battersea Power Station project, arguing that the funds could have been channelled into domestic investments instead.
The 42-acre Battersea Power Station redevelopment is a major mixed-use regeneration project led by a Malaysian consortium comprising S P Setia Bhd, Sime Darby Property Bhd, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB).
Anwar said the government had prioritised domestic investments over the past three years, with government-linked investment companies (GLICs) initially expected to allocate at least 20% of their investments locally.
He said institutions like the National Trust Fund (KWAN), Retirement Fund (KWAP), Khazanah Nasional Bhd and PNB continued to explore investment opportunities both locally and overseas.
“However, we cannot deny that many overseas investments have generated high returns,” he said.
To another question by Syahredzan Johan (PH-Bangi), he said no governance breaches on the scale of past scandals have been identified in government-linked entities in recent years.
He said violations uncovered in past cases like 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) and the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) were extensive and difficult to defend.
“I can give an assurance that, thus far, we have not identified any violations comparable to those of these companies I mentioned earlier,” he said.
“Hopefully, we will be able to keep this under control, although it will not be easy.”
