THE land on which St Regis Langkawi stands is still owned by the Langkawi Development Authority (Lada), the New Straits Times quoted Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor as saying today.

He said the ownership issue has yet to be resolved as there were governance problems while developing the land.

The resort opened in 2016.

“There is a land (ownership) issue over St Regis (Langkawi). There was misconduct during its development process.

“(The developer) did not comply with the initial agreement. Lada did not allow our land to be used as collateral.

“(St Regis Resort) wanted to use the land as collateral but we did not allow that, so we did not sign. Thus, the land does not belong to St Regis, it still belongs to Lada,” he said.

Sanusi said St Regis did not lease the land from Lada, so the state could not collect any revenue through a lease.

He said the matter should be referred to the federal government as Lada is an agency under the ministry.

The 2022 Auditor-General’s Report released today revealed that Lada Property Development Management had failed to collect land lease revenue for two projects.

Auditor-General Wan Suraya Wan Mohd Radzi was reported as saying the land lease revenue, totalling RM11.49 million, failed to be collected.

The two projects were the St Regis Hotel project valued at RM3.19 million, which began in 2018, and the land lease for the Tok Senik Village Project valued at RM8.3 million, which began in 2003. – November 22, 2023.