Pimentel questions $5-M fee for unsolicited LRT study

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. on Friday urged Malacañang to stop the payment of $5 million to a Canadian company that submitted an unsolicited feasibility study on a mass transit system. Pimentel reiterated his objection to the payment of the fee to the Canadian firm SNC Lavalin after being tipped off that the Department of Budget and Management was about to release the check for its unsolicited proposal on the Light Rail Transit-1 extension. The proposal was set aside by the government for being too expensive and for other terms disadvantageous to it. SNC Lavalin had billed the government to the tune of $10 million supposedly to cover the cost of conducting the feasibility study and development plans. Pimentel was appalled upon knowing that the Canadian firm had already received half ($5 million) of the contract cost. “If the project proposal was not solicited by the government through any of its agencies, then why should the government pay for the feasibility study and development plan for the said unsolicited project proposal? This is either the most brilliant money-making strategy or the most stupid government policy I have ever encountered," Pimentel said Pimentel questioned the endorsement made by the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) to pay for the study. “We should exercise prudence in spending public funds especially in the light of Malacañang’s austerity measures. We should put a stop to the systematic looting of people’s money," he said.-GMANews.TV