Can Teng Chang Yeow justify the cheap sale of over 2,000 acres of state land?
BN claims to have letters dated July 2003 indicating that the BN state exco had given the go-ahead for the second phase of the low cost housing on the 1.1 acre piece of land in Taman Manggis. BN has to explain why:-
a) BN did not made a public announcement in the press of the low cost housing project in 2003 then,
b) BN fail to take up follow up action for the 5 years between 2003 to 2008 to complete the project as it was never marked in the MPPP layout plans;
c) BN did not object publicly in the press that the land was for low cost housing project when I announced in 2009 that the land will be sold by open tender to build a private hospital to boost medcial tourism in Penang.
Or is this another empty promise by BN just like the projects of the Penang Outer Ring Road or the monorail that was promised by none other than the then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi himself. The failure by BN to even announce in 2003 to the press that a low cost housing project will be built in Taman Manggis or to indicate a such on MPPP layout plans indicates that BN is making this baseless attacks for the coming general elections. Why then did no BN leader object when an open tender called in 2009 was not only published in the press but even advertised in BN papers like The Star?
Clearly, BN is using the Taman Manggis issue to try to save BN Penang Chair Teng Chang Yeow for failing to show proof that myself, Chow Kon Yeow, Phee Boon Poh, Wong Hon Wai and Ng Wei Aik has a personal interest in the hospital project. BN is desperately clutching at straws by even attacking my landlady even though she did not bid for the land. Teng knows he is lying because the sale of the Taman Manggis land was conducted by open competitive tender where anyone bidding the highest price will be awarded to build a private hospital.
The open competitive tenders of land sales by PR state government in getting the highest price above market value is a direct contrast to land sales by the previous BN government. For instance in the Tanjong Tokong Reclamation, under Agreements dated 1990 & 1999, the developer was given the right to reclaim and develop 980 acres of land off Tanjong Tokong at the price of RM 1 per square foot! The 750 acres of land in Batu Kawan was sold in 2004 at between RM3.05 to RM 4 per square feet.
As for the Jelutong Expressway, under Agreements dated 1997, 2002 & 2003, the developer was given the right to reclaim 325 acres of land in exchange for constructing the Jelutong Expressway at an estimated cost of RM300 million and cash payment of RM25.4 million. In other words, the total cost is RM325.4 million for 325 acres or the cost of reclaimed land at Jelutong Expressway is RM 1 million per acre or over RM 20 per square feet. What’s more the developer can pay RM 25.4 million over 10 years from 2005 up to 2015 – surely a record for length of payment period.
Can Teng explain these cheap land sales by BN of over 2000 acres of land occurring when he was in the BN government?
