Kambing Hitam & Collateral Damage

Prasarana Malaysia Bhd chief executive officer Masnizam Hisham in her parting shot has expressed her appreciation to the Finance Ministry for the issuance of bonds to pay the salary of its 17,000 employees. Masnizam, who has served Prasarana since 2005, will be stepping down from her position on Sept 2, 2018. 

“I am grateful and would like to thank the Finance Ministry for approving the issuance of sukuk/bonds that will allow the salaries of Prasarana staff for September and the coming months. At least, I did not leave the group with no salary provisions,” she said in her farewell message on Warna Prasarana Facebook page.

In the letter, she said she had taken over Prasarana at a time when costs were spiralling in several projects undertaken by the company, including the LRT3 project linking Petaling Jaya and Klang.

“If we had been firm in managing costs, we would not be in a financially situation like today. When I started holding the position on January 18 this year, I faced a financial position or cash flow that was only enough for only three months while the cost for LRT3 has surged beyond the budget set,” Masnizam said. 

She added that various efforts have been carried and up to July this year, the group saved a total cost of RM175mil that would enable to the group to reduce its losses by RM200mil this year. 

“What needs to be done now is to increase the number of passengers because we have a huge capacity and to grow  our “non-fare” income or income other than ticket sales,” she said. 

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, on July 10, said poor management by Prasarana had caused the total cost of the project – including land acquisitions, fees and interest – to increase to a massive RM31.45bil.

The Cabinet had since directed Prasarana to cut this by almost half to RM16.62bil by reducing the number of train-sets, shelving five stations and extending the timeline to complete the project from 2020 to 2024.