GERAKAN today claimed that in the nine years the opposition was in power in Penang, it had sold twice as much land when compared with the 40 years Barisan Nasional governed the state.

Penang Gerakan chairman Teng Chang Yeow, who is also state BN chief, said the Penang government sold 5,446.8 acres (2,204.24ha) of land to the private sector, including multinationals and project delivery partners, in nine years.

The land sold came up to 51 acres on average a month or 1.7 acres a day, he said.

In comparison BN sold 2,685 acres (1,086.58ha) of land, including land reclamation rights, in 40 years.

He said it was the people who were the losers, as the land the DAP-led administration had sold since coming into power in Penang in 2008 could have been used to build low-medium cost homes.

“Conventionally during Barisan Nasional’s time, 1.7 acres of land can (be used to) build 204 units of low-medium cost (LMC) houses (at the current density of 120 units per acre) at RM72,500 each.

“In other words, Penang folk have a missed opportunity of having 204 units low-medium cost houses built each day! Looking at the figures, it has been a jumbo land sale for the past nine years!” he told a press conference today at the party’s state headquarters.

The state government and its rival BN had been on loggerheads over the land-sale issue for years. 

The issue resurfaced recently after Penang Umno chief Zainal Abidin Osman said the Auditor-General’s Report had “confirmed” what BN had been saying all along – that the Penang government under the opposition generated revenue by selling land to the private sector to cover its rising operation expenses.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng denied Zainal’s allegation and defended his government, by saying it sold 36 times less land compared with BN and still made more money.

Teng said his side had been collecting figures from media reports and official state records to refute the numbers given by the state government on land sales under the previous BN administration.

“The state government’s claim that the revenue from land sale during DAP administration was higher than the BN administration is another grossly misleading statement. 

“A cup of kopi O in 1990 cost 60 sen but today it is RM1.20.  One can’t argue that the coffeeshop owner should have charged RM1.20 per cup in 1990s to maximise profit, but the fact is that 60 sen at that time reflected the price of materials and goods in that period.

“If the coffee shop owner charged RM1.20 a cup back then, his business would have collapsed.”

Teng, who was state tourism executive councillor when BN was in power, said even the salaries and allowances of the chief minister and exco members had gone up twofold since then.

“Can the state government say they are more prudent than the previous government? Salary and allowances have increased and so has the market prices for land over the years!  Stop misleading the people,” he said.

Teng also said some of the deals BN made in the land sales had benefitted the people, like the reclamation rights given to developer IJM, which built the highway now known as the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway.

He said road users could use the 9km toll-free expressway for life, unlike the undersea tunnel or highways proposed under the Penang Transport Master Plan that would be tolled.

“We got to build 5,500 units LMC built from the reclamation deal. Did that not benefit the people? 

“How many LMCs have the Penang government built after selling so much land?” he said.

Teng also said Penang BN would show data to refute the state government’s allegation that the previous administration built fewer LMCs compared with the current administration.

He said BN had been gathering data from around the state that would show that Penang had some developmental concerns, like approvals for condominiums and commercial buildings in already developed areas that would lead to traffic problems and other issues.

Asked how he thought the state government would respond to his statement today, the BN leader said: “I cannot guess how they will respond when they have people with god-like status.”

Teng was also asked to comment on former Jawi assembly Tan Beng Huat and 100 others quitting DAP to join Parti Alternatif Rakyat, a small party helmed by former DAP members.

“When a group leaves a party, sometimes it causes a wave of change. It is up to the 100 former members if they can influence others to leave like them.

“I don’t know the magnitude of the fracture in DAP. Maybe it is big, but suppressed. Maybe this is just a small disgruntled group.

“I don’t know their party affairs. I cannot comment more,” he said. – December 11, 2017.