Dato’ Abdul Rahman Dahlan claimed that despite the Federal Government’s best efforts to build affordable homes in Penang, its agencies were not able to proceed with the plans because Lim Guan Eng practices “revenge politics”.
However, Penangites and Malaysians are shocked that Federal Housing and Local Government Minister, Dato’ Abdul Rahman Dahlan doesn’t dare to meet with the Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng allegedly because the latter is “fierce and angry”.
We are in a state of disbelief that a Minister who boasted so much about the Federal Government promising to build so many affordable homes for Malaysians would not meet with the Penang Government. This is despite his very serious accusations that the state authorities are “sabotaging” the federal government altruistic plans.
How could the Federal Minister be so irresponsible as to sacrifice the importance and needs of ordinary Penangites by abdicating his responsibilities? Or is there more than it meets the eye?
Is it because the Housing Minister is probably too afraid to meet because he actually knows the real truth of the matter, and he doesn’t want to end up like a miserable loser after meeting Lim Guan Eng.
Dato’ Abdul Rahman Dahlan knows for a fact that the initial applications made by the federal agencies, JKP Sdn Bhd and Penang Regional Housing Development Authority (PERDA) had their initial applications rejected because they included development of properties costing up to RM1.8 million on Penang Island and RM800,000 on the mainland. The selling prices of these properties are well above the “affordable housing” guide of less than RM400,000 on the island and RM250,000 on the mainland.
Based on the plans submitted by JKP and PERDA themselves, they estimated that they will make a profit of RM149 million from these projects. Why should these Federal Government agencies be making such huge profits at the expense of the rakyat? Instead of the Federal Government fulfilling its promises and obligations to help fund the construction of affordable homes for Penangites, Penangites are instead forced to fund the coffers of the Federal Government.
Therefore, Dato’ Abdul Rahman Dahlan should explain why the state government should allow these Federal Government agencies to exploit the interest of the people of Penang?
On top of that, 11 out of 15 pieces of development land owned by JKP and PERDA were acquired by the Federal Government for “public interest” purposes. If they were meant for “public interest”, then surely building for-profit multi-million ringgit properties would run afoul of the Land Acquisition Act?
The Federal Government had promised an allocation of RM1.3 billion to build 80,000 affordable PR1MA homes throughout the country. Unfortunately, Penang has received not a single sen from allocation.
Hence, instead of knowingly making unfounded accusations against the Penang state government, the Housing Minister should instead reprimand his federal agencies for attempting to profiteer from ordinary Malaysians.
If Dato’ Abdul Rahman Dahlan is sincere about building affordable homes, he should take a leaf out of the Penang state government’s book. The latter has allocated a record RM500 million to build 22,512 affordable housing units in Penang with no intention of profiting from the projects.
Otherwise, the Housing Minister will only prove himself a cowardly chicken for not even daring to meet with the Penang Chief Minister to ensure that the Federal Government can contribute towards building more affordable houses in Penang.