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Tram campaign pick up steam !

3 February 2007 - 10:15pm

Dear Friends,

I attach the revised TOR (thanks for imputs from
Leslie), which I assume will be acceptable to all.

The next move will be to appooint the Consultant, but
before that we will have to raise the fees. Does
anyone have any ideas?

First, the Consultant;

Ric Francis is the best choice, if it is left to me,
but in the interest of openess we should choose from a
wider field. Does anyone have any other names?

Second, the fees:

Any Consultant who we choose will have to do this for
very little or no fees. Even so there are costs to
think about. The biggest cost will be the accomodation
and expenses, which I estimate will be about RM 1500
to RM 2000 for the week's work in the field. If it is
Ric we will have to add the cost of air fares from
Perth which is about RM2500. Misc. costs will be
another RM 500, making it a round RM 5000.

It is difficult to estimate how much the fees will be
and your guess will be as good as mine, but I would
not expect it to be less that US$100 per day, so it is important we get someone who will do this as a public service.

Please give me your thoughts, especially how we can
raise the money, and let me know as soon as possible.

Regards,

Ahmad

Comments

3 February 2007 - 10:16pm — ong

Ideas for moving ahead

Dear Ahmad,Re: the consultantIf it were a review of the PORR project, or something like that, I would say we need an independent consultant. And we might use the results to lobby as a public advocacy group. I am in favour or getting Ric as a foreign consultant in addition to the local consultant. He is willing to do this as a honorary service, but we must cover his costs. He used to come on his own steam, but with old age, I think he has his wife's medical bills to think about. It is important to have a local counterpart for Ric, so that even when Ric goes back after his short stint, there is a local person to follow up and maintain continuity. The consultant needs to do some prepatory work before and after Ric's visit. Worst comes to worst, if there is no budget, Ric can advise long distance. But it's best if he can show up a few days before a scheduled presentation to the city, to polish up the presentation and to answer any questions and inspire some confidence. It might be also possible to get the Lions to sponsor Ric's participation.However, for something like the City trams, I think we want to get the State Government or MPPP to buy into it from the very start. I suggest asking them for a grant for the study. From my previous discussions with the Council Secretary he seems quite open to the idea, but is of course to busy to pursue. I have also talked to the Council enginer (forgot his name who was involved when the tram tracks were uncovered) and he is also sympathetic.So I would still suggest to do it in the name of an NGO but to ask the government to give a grant, and the result is a sort of shared property which either party can make use of. (e.g. endangered trades project, repeal of rent control study). If they refuse, we can still go public but by this time the project profile would be raised, because we have already tried to interest the city. As I said earlier, after everything they have tried in terms of public transport, they owe it to the public to try the tram option.We need to get the support of the politicians through public opinion. The cheapest most efficient way to do this is to organise letter-writers. I am not kidding! For some reason, politicians take letters to the editor very seriously and a spate of five letters over a period of two months will do it. It is also highly appropriate for this issue as it concerns public transport. As soon as we have announced plans for the tram sudy, then public letter writing should be unleashed -- complain about the state of public transport and push for the tram! Good luck!Khoo Salma