Dr M: Mega projects help stimulate economy
FORMER Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad defended mega projects, saying they have a big spin-off and help tostimulate the economy.
"When the government build mega projects, the spin-off is very big. All contractors get business as well as sub-contractors, suppliers, workers and eventhe nasi lemak sellers get business as they have something to sell to the workers," he told reporters after attending the National Asset and FacilityManagement Convention here today.
"They stimulate the economy and somewhere along the line, they will have topay taxes, even the nasi lemak sellers because they have to source a lot ofthings from wholesalers who also pay taxes," he said.
Dr Mahathir said the country's revenue has been going up every year becausethe economy is stimulated by the government as well as the private sector.
Dr Mahathir said the private sector and not the government should beresponsible for building mega projects as businessmen always know how to makemoney from their investments.
"Business means you get some capital, do business and make a profit. If youwant to expand, use the money or borrow from the bank," he said, adding that thegoverment should go for privatisation exercises.
On the 2010 Budget, Dr Mahathir was reluctant to make any comment.
"Before you can make a comment, you have to study the budget very carefullybecause my experience is that the first-day comment is always very good andeverbody is happy. But later when they begin to study the hidden agenda, thenthey feel very unhappy," he said.
"So, I'm still trying to find the hidden agenda," he added. - Bernama
1 comment:
This is what they call voodoo economics. The only way we can make our economy grow is to make our RM1.00 work like RM 2.00 All our Mega projects were built at unknown cost. Therefore the benefits to government is also unknown. Before you can make that assertion, YAA Tun, you must first tell us what those projects cost the taxpayer.
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