Malaysiakini
Feb 14, 2012

Umno leaders have been warned to stop claims that the tender of state land in Bayan Mutiara by the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) was done through a negotiated tender.

The tender was carried out via an open tender system, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said, and therefore enemies of the state should stop their claims that the developer, Ivory Properties Group Bhd, only needs to build affordable houses in Batu Kawan as part of the deal.

Lim, who is DAP secretary general, described the remarks by Umno leaders as “slanderous”.

He said the 102 acres of land south of the Penang bridge was sold via an open tender in 2010 and the developer was bound by the terms of the sale) to build affordable houses, schools and places of worship.

“The sale was conducted via a request for proposals and the open tender was advertised in the newspapers in 2010. The highest bidder was chosen, it was not negotiated,” Lim said in a statement.

“The reserve price of RM200 per square feet (psf) was far higher than the valuation price obtained by the PDC,” he added.

“(We obtained) the highest price of RM240psf, which amounts to RM1.07 billion in total, and this will be paid in five years.”

Umno MP: Price too low

Last week, Umno MP for Kota Belud, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, said the price of the land was reached through negotiated tender.

Penang Umno chief Zainal Abidin Osman questioned why the land was not developed by the PDC, which is the owner.

Zainal also criticised the tender price of the land as “too low”, compared with prices in the surrounding areas such as Queensbay, where a popular mall is located.

However, Lim questioned why these “Umno cronies” did not bid for the land if they thought the selling price of RM240psf was very low.

It was not true, the chief minister said, that the developer was exempted from building affordable houses or was allowed to do this only in Batu Kawan on the mainland.

Lim said the state government would use the profit from the Bayan Mutiara land tender – amounting to RM500 million – to build about 12,000 affordable houses in Batu Kawan. This project is the state’s own initiative and has nothing to do with the Bayan Mutiara developer.

The developer, he said, was bound by the terms of the land tender to build affordable houses on the island, not just on the mainland.

“It is very malicious of Umno to lie to the people that the state wants to chase the poor away to Batu Kawan by asking the developer from the island to build houses in Batu Kawan,” Lim said.

“This is not true at all as developers from the island are not allowed to migrate to Seberang Perai to build affordable houses.”