I am amazed by the fact that Gerakan deputy president Oh Tong Keong is today questioning the Penang Development Corporation’s development strategy of acquiring land, putting in infrastructure and turning these plots of land into industrial, commercial and housing development, a strategy used by PDC founder Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu and followed by Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon.
This strategy has been used successfully to transform Penang from a sleepy fishing village into a vibrant industrial and manufacturing state, a fact that Gerakan was so proud of and became their showpiece that enabled them to win several general elections.
But today, Oh Tong Keong from the very same Gerakan party is questioning the present Pakatan Harapan State Government of Penang for adopting and adapting this development strategy to further boost Penang’s socio-economic development into the Silicon Valley of the East and Malaysia’s first Green State.
The modus operandi used by the PDC is simple; from the master planning, land will be acquired and infrastructure had to be put in place and investors are invited to take up the land for industrial development. PDC will also develop these land banks into SME plots, commercial buildings and various categories of housing and township development.
This model can be seen in PDC’s development of Bayan Baru and Bayan Lepas new township development, Perai and Seberang Jaya and also Bukit Minyak as well as Juru.
The current focus of PDC is in Batu Kawan where through this model of development, we are turning the large land banks acquired in the 1990s into industrial, commercial and housing and mixed development.
Through these development projects, we have created thousands of job opportunities and income for the people and achieved high economic growth.
Is Oh Tong Keong suggesting that we should keep these land banks and stop any development because we do not want to sell them to potential investors?
If Penang were to use Oh Tong Keong’s development logic, the state would still be the sleepy fishing village it once was.