PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has called for an official review on salaries and allowances drawn by heads of statutory bodies, commissions and Government Linked Companies (GLC).
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the directive had been given to the chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa in a cabinet meeting here today.
He was drawing on the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) executive chairman's controversial RM85,000 paycheque.
The salary and allowance according to him was more than the prime minister’s pay.
Loke said that the statutory body which received an initial grant of RM90 million for the period of one and a half to two years was fully funded by their collection of passenger service charge.
“The salary and allowance of the Mavcom executive chairman when it was set up in 2016 was RM78,300 a month, it was then revised three per cent upward in 2017 before it was once more increased by 5 per cent to RM85,000,” he told reporters at a press conference in the ministry here today.
He also said Mavcom will remain operating as it is for now.
“We have no plans to abolish it but it’s subject to review,” he said.
Meanwhile on the scrapping of MRT Line 3, Loke said that the termination of the project involved a minimal cost, while adding that the works done to facilitate the project were also very minimal.
On the Rapid Transit System (RTS) rail track linking Johor Baru with Singapore he said that the government was committed to carrying out the project but stressed that the terms and conditions had to be reviewed.
Loke further said that the Finance Ministry would find a way to reduce the cost of the project.