By Shannon Teoh | March 13, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 — Putrajaya today defended its move to “recycle” two projects to be included into its Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), insisting were part of the “whole ecosystem” to push Malaysia into a high-income economy.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk S. K. Devamany told Parliament that it was unfair to single out projects like the Karambunai Integrated Resort and the Tanjong Agas Industrial Park as they formed part of a cohesive plan along with other megaprojects.

“It is part of a whole ecosystem where incentives such as infrastructure is given to encourage both local and foreign private sectors to invest. It’s a damn good programme.

“In principle, an EPP must fulfil two conditions, which is to have a significant impact on gross national income between 2010 to 2020 and to go through several rounds of consultation with stakeholders,” he said in reply to Ipoh Timor MP Lim Kit Siang.

The DAP parliamentary leader had asked the government to state how many EPPs “are recycled projects predating the ETP,” citing the two projects and questioned how the programme launched in September 2010, represented a “bold new approach” to managing the economy.

The inclusion of the two projects under the ETP were criticised by think-tank Research for Social Advancement (Refsa) in its recent critique of the Najib administration’s much-vaunted economic plan.

The analysis said the Karambunai project was initially announced in October 2010 during Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s budget speech as a RM3 tourism project which more than tripled in value to RM9.6 billion when it was included in the fifth ETP update on April 19, 2011.

The RM8 billion Tanjong Agas park was also launched announced in February 2009, prior to the launch of the ETP.

But Devamany cited other projects such as the Johor Premium Outlet, the EduCity in Iskandar Malaysia and KPJ’s healthcare tourism as part of the ETP’s overall plan.

The ETP aims to more than double Malaysia’s per capita income from RM23,700 in 2009 to RM48,000 by 2020.