All eyes are now on Eye On Malaysia: Another bailout by the Government?
Exclusive revelation by Malaysiakini about Eye On Malaysia financial trouble is indeed mind boggling.
Comprising of 42 gondolas, the giant plaything would allow visitors to experience a 360-degree panoramic view of Kuala Lumpur during a 12-minute ride that goes 60 metres high. Tickets are priced at RM15 for adults and RM12 for children.
It is expected to be around until the end of the Visit Malaysia Year campaign next August.
The Tourism Ministry had high hopes to rake in the tourist ringgit through the Eye on Malaysia. It hoped to see long queues of visitors waiting eagerly to jump into the sky-gondola rides.
Anticipating big business, the ministry even ‘privatised’ the running of the Eye on Malaysia, giving it to a newly formed company called MST Ad Suria Sdn Bhd, which is a subsidiary of Ad Suria, an event management company formed in 2004.
However all is not well after all with the Eye On Malaysia.
Now new facts have emerged that the Tourism Ministry and MST Ad Suria are trying to revitalise the Eye on Malaysia.
The plan is simple - the ministry buys thousands of tickets from the private company to be distributed for free. In other words, the ministry is bailing out MST Ad Suria.
Sources have told Malaysiakini that tickets worth RM5.7 million have been snapped up by the ministry from the private company.
“500,000 tickets are there sitting in the ministry. The amount sums up to RM5.7 million of taxpayers’ money. The ministry is giving them (MST Ad Suria) easy money,” sources said.
If what is reported by Malaysiakini is true, then we are witnessing another Malaysia Boleh feat in the making, this time by the Ministry of Tourism. For some strange reasons, Malaysia Boleh spirit never fails to show the true colors of the power that be especially in using public money to bail out private sectors projects that had gone bad. Why the authority had to resort to this is beyond the comprehension of all Malaysians from all walks of life. All Malaysians should demand explanation from the relevant authority on its latest move which is tarnishing the image of Malaysia. This is not the role the ministry is supposed to play in promoting Malaysia to the world.
[tags]Ministry of Tourism, Eye On Malaysia, bailout[/tags]
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August 12th, 2007 at 1:11 am
Fail management.
December 23rd, 2007 at 1:29 am
[...] much hoo-ha and a fair amount of positive press, the Eye on Malaysia started to water when reports started to surface that the private company, which runs the Eye, was not doing that well. Apparently the Eye was [...]