GEORGE TOWN, June 23 — Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd wants to meet with the Board of Engineers Malaysia and ministers Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan and Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof over the project consultancy fees issue.

The concession company of Penang’s RM6.34 billion undersea tunnel and three major roads project wants both federal ministers to join them in a meeting with the Board of Engineers Malaysia in order for them to again present their detailed fee structure to them.

The Consortium chairman Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli denied using the name of the Works Ministry and the Works Minister to defend the allegations of high fees for Feasibility Studies and Detailed Design for the three main roads portion of the project.

"I wish to reiterate that this is a statement of fact. I’ve checked with my consultants who attended and they affirmed that the meeting had taken place to discuss about the alleged high fee,” he said, referring to an April 6 briefing that was chaired by Fadillah.

Earlier today, Fadillah issued a statement accusing the Consortium of using his name and the ministry’s name in its attempt to defend itself in the serious over-payment of consultant fees for the project.

He also claimed the briefing in April was only a project overview with explanations on why the feasibility studies on the tunnel portion of the project was delayed.

Fadillah insisted that the detailed costs of the project was not part of the discussion.

Zarul countered Fadillah on this by insisting that they did present and discuss the breakdown of the feasibility studies and detailed design fees for the project.

"Otherwise, logically why was the meeting held without this agenda,” he said in a statement issued today.

He said it would be "odd” that they went to the ministry to talk about the delay of the feasibility studies of the undersea tunnel without discussing the fees that were allegedly deemed "excessive”.

He reiterated that the Consortium won the project in an open tender.

He said the RM177.5 million for the feasibility study and detailed design (FSDD) of the three major roads portion of the project covered civil, structural and geotechnical engineering design, land survey, detailed environmental impact assessment, quantity surveyor, land tunnel design, architectural design, mechanical and electrical, project management, social impact study, traffic impact study and financial feasibility and funding management.

Two days ago, Abdul Rahman had accused the Penang state government of overpaying for the FSDD of the three major roads.

He claimed the payment of RM177.5 million for the FSDD of the three major roads project was too high when it should only be slightly over RM41 million as per guidelines set by the Board of Engineers Malaysia.