KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 — Prestariang SKIN Sendirian Berhad (PSKIN) today said that it came to an agreement with the Home Ministry to cancel the National Immigration Control System (SKIN) with immediate effect.
The company said it is not in default of the concession agreement but respects the government’s right to terminate the concession by way of expropriation in accordance with the terms.
“Following clarification with the government, the parties have mutually agreed that the termination of the concession will take effect on January 22, 2019,” the company said in a statement.
“We wish to reiterate that PSKIN is not in default of the Concession Agreement.
“However, we respect the decision of the government to exercise its rights to terminate the concession by expropriation in accordance with the terms of the Concession Agreement and PSKIN does not intend to challenge the termination of the concession,” it added.
SKIN was meant to be a Public Private Partnership (PPP) venture where PSKIN would finance, build, operate, maintain and ultimately, transfer the system to the government after 15 years.
The project, meant to replace the Immigration Department’s MyIMMs IT infrastructure network, built in the 1990s, was approved by the previous Barisan Nasional administration.
But it was subsequently placed under the Ministry of Finance for review after Pakatan Harapan took power, fuelling speculation about its future. Rumours spread that the project would likely be terminated.
PSKIN said it is entitled to compensation in accordance with the formula set out in the concession agreement and is currently in discussions with the government to settle it amicably in the interest of both parties.
Under the PPP agreement, the government was not required to make any payment to PSKIN during the first three years of development execution.
PSKIN said it would have undertaken the entire funding and execution of the SKIN Project.
The completion and execution risks were to be fully borne by PSKIN with a fixed contract value for the entire 15-year concession which included any fluctuations in interest rates, foreign currency exchange, and IT hardware and software prices.
Charges would only be payable by the government after the SKIN Solution was successfully implemented at all immigration sites in Malaysia and abroad, the company said.
