"I will get Chan to report to me about this," Abdullah said after opening the National Asset and Facility Management (Nafam) Convention 2007 today.

He was responding to theSun's front-page report today that Jafza pulled out of the PKFZ deal because of political interference, bureaucracy and non-conformation to the management agreement signed between Jafza and the Port Klang Authority (PKA).

Jafza executive chairman Sultan Ahmed Sulayem and its senior vice-president (international operations), Chuck Heath, wrote to Chan on March 11 and May 29 last year, respectively, but received no replies.

In his letter, Sultan Ahmed had said Jafza was facing difficulties working with PKA and these issues were previously advised by Heath.

Sultan Ahmed said Jafza was concerned that the zone's reputation would be in jeopardy because of PKA's continued interference which caused delay.

He said PKA had also overruled many areas of its responsibilities, resulting in, among others, an incident in which Jafza general manager Noel Gulliver was escorted out of the office and taken to the immigration headquarters for working without a permit.

Heath's letter pointed to a "total lack of government planning ... which has seen the most fundamental issues being considered and resolved only after the event rather than before".

Further, he said, transparency was non-existent and the "Malaysian political and economic landscape has too many vested interests seeking involvement and control in this project".

Heath also alleged that since the signing of the management agreement, many issues arose, contrary to the spirit of the agreement and the contractual obligations of both parties.

Abdullah said: "The Jebel Ali Free Zone (is) some kind of joint venture for the development of the port site. It involves the Dubai people, so I don't want to make any comment at this point."

He agreed that he had a meeting with Jafza officials but that it was held "a long time ago but it was not because of this".

Dubai-based Jafza had on July 18 announced it was pulling out of the agreement to manage the PKFZ for 15 years with the aim to mirror Jafza's competitive and attractive business environment because of "strategic reasons".

The reasons it cited was that it wanted to concentrate on projects where it could retain control of equity. In PKFZ's case, 100% equity was held by PKA.

The original cost of the project ballooned from RM2 billion to RM4.6 billion because of, among others, overvalued land costs.

What stands on the site are rows of unoccupied buildings, an incomplete four-star hotel and pothole-ridden roads.

Documents obtained by theSunrevealed that the fallout was because of red tape, political meddling, inaccurate minutes and attempted tax evasions.

Newly-appointed PKA chairman Datuk Chor Chee Heung berated the authors of the report saying it was pointless to get his comments at this stage.

Asked if the report was inaccurate, Chor said he was at a meeting and would respond later.

PKA general manager Datin Paduka O.C. Phang, who was accused by Jafza officials for her part in frustrating the agreement, was unavailable for comment as she was attending meetings all day.