KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 — The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is willing to listen to proposals from any exploration or search companies with credible leads and having the technology to restart the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
He said the government was still waiting for proposals from seabed exploration company, Ocean Infinity, or from any other search parties that could provide new credible leads with the application of ‘ no cure, no pay’ policy.
“With the no cure no fee policy, we will look at it. We have worked with them before and we are ready to discuss with them on the new proposal (if any).
“After the end of last year’s search, there are no fresh proposals from Ocean Infinity. The search cannot be done throughout the year because of the weather and so on.
“If Ocean Infinity can come with fresh proposal, we will discuss with them,” he said to reporters at the fifth Annual MH370 Remembrance event today.
He said the proposal on the technology should be more helpful and be more efficient as part of the guarantee to restart a new search.
When asked if the government would offer reward for the missing aircraft, Loke said the terms of agreement would be similar to that made with Ocean Infinity before.
He refuted claims that the government was withholding information in the last MH370 report.
“The report was published at full. There is no such thing as holding any information,” he said.
MH370 vanished mysteriously from the radar screen while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board.
The deep-sea search mission carried out for almost three years to locate the missing Boeing 777 in the Indian Ocean, covered 120,000 sq km, involving Australia, China and Malaysia, ended fruitless.
On May 29 last year, United States-based exploration company Ocean Infinity, which conducted the last search for MH370 in the Indian Ocean, ended it after failing to find any debris.
Last July, the MH370 Safety Investigation Team, in its 449-page report, concluded that they are unable to determine the real cause of the disappearance of the ill-fated flight but did not rule out the possibility that ‘unlawful interference’ by a third party had caused the incident. — Bernama
