GEORGE TOWN, Nov 17 – The Penang government has been urged to provide the actual size of land approved for reclamation for Phase II of the Seri Tanjong Pinang project (STP II). Opposition Leader in the Penang State Assembly Datuk Jahara Hamid said this was because the land size announced by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng in the 2016 state budget was different from that announced by the developer.
She said based on the original agreement, the land size approved by the state government in 1992 for Seri Tanjong Pinang Phase I was 97.12 hectare and 299.47 hectare for Phase II (STP II) while the developer need to hand over 10 per cent of the reclaimed land.
“On Dec 8, 2014, the project developer said they had handed over 10.93 hectares to the state government, 8.09 hectares for the Penang outer ring road, which exceeded the obligation made in the original contract. The developer also handed over 53.01 hectares of land which will be reclaimed along Gurney Drive, bringing the total to 77.29 hectares,” she said.
“On Nov 13, 2015, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, at a media conference, reiterated what was mentioned in his budget speech last Nov 6 that the Pakatan Harapan government only approved 24.25 hectares for land reclamation and revenue from the land sale of RM500 million to be used to finance the construction of 22,515 houses for the poor,” she added.
“The chief minister also said that following intensive negotiations with the developer, they agreed to hand over an additional 10 per cent, making 20 per cent of the reclaimed land. Which is right?” she said this when debating the 2016 Supply Bill during the State Assembly sitting here on Monday.
