Govt to report on LCS construction schedule and progress, says defence minister

The government will report the schedule and progress of the littoral combat ship (LCS) construction project in stages, Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said today.

He said his ministry had been given six months to mobilise efforts to revive the project, and that he believed the first ship would be delivered to the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) within two years.

"We will look at how we can ensure that the promised ships are delivered to the RMN and those who are guilty are brought to justice.

"I will report (inform) to the public the phased schedule for the construction of the ship," he said during a question-and-answer session at the Dewan Negara sitting this morning.

He said this in response to a supplementary question from Husain Awang, who asked for clarification on the steps taken by the defence ministry to resolve the issue of the procurement of the ships as well as a supplementary question from Razali Idris who wanted to know about the time frame involved.
 
Hishammuddin said the government was also cooperating with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the investigation into the issue.

"Our cooperation with PAC is total. We have already faced PAC more than 15 times.

"The one who does wrong, still does wrong. If there is a violation or abuse of power, the investigation is ongoing and action will be taken against those involved," he said.

On Aug 4, PAC disclosed that the committee had held nine proceedings regarding the LCS issue from Nov 18, 2020 to March 8 this year.

It said the results of the proceedings found that the LCS project contract was awarded to Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd through direct negotiation, and that while the government paid RM6.083 billion, not a single LCS ship had been delivered.