He said Westlite Dormitories (Penang-Juru) Sdn Bhd (Westlite) had not injected capital into the company as the first project had not begun.
“Westlite is a company from Singapore and it has a string of workers’ dormitory projects in Johor.
“It is committed to the project and is not dormant, as alleged by Bukit Tengah YB (Ong Chin Wen, PKR-Bukit Tengah),” he told the state Legislative Assembly today.
Ong, in his earlier debate, had queried why a zero-revenue company such as Westlite was allowed to bid in a workers’ hostel project on government land.
He also revealed Companies Commission documents revealing the company’s zero revenue and its profits in the red.
Jagdeep said the cost of the project was initially tagged at RM20.6 million, but this was later halved.
He said the initial call for tenders was for dormitories in both Juru and Bukit Tambun on mainland Penang, but the state government later decided to only go with the former.
“They were initially committed to 12.6 acres of land, but later it was divided into two.
“So now Westlite will build on 6.6 acres at a cost of RM10.4 million.
“It will build a 12,000-bed dormitory for workers,” Jagdeep said in his winding-up speech.
Westlite will be buying the land from the state and run the dormitory, which will serve the needs of all foreign and local workers in the area.
Jagdeep said Westlite had already paid 40% of the RM10.4 million, with the remainder to be paid upon receiving the planning permission from the local authorities.
He allayed concerns about the land not being suitable or prone to flooding.
He said as chair of the technical review committee, Westlite met all requirements set by technical agencies, including the Drainage and Irrigation Department. He added a traffic and social impact assessment was also carried out for the project.
Last Wednesday, residents in Juru on the mainland were upset over the workers’ village, citing concerns of a growing foreign worker presence in their community.
The 300-odd protest group was also reported to be worried about impending floods if construction took off at the site.
The affected residents had sent in a memorandum with 3,000 signatures to the chief minister, demanding the state government shelf the project.
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