The Federal minister continued to throw questions on the RM6.3 billion mega project undertaken by the Penang government, saying answers by the latter were vague and amounted to “shuffling”.
“The shuffling by the Penang government and marked discrepancies in the answers have forced me to repeat some questions.
“Observers have also agreed that questions that I have asked before have not been answered in full. The rakyat needs transparent and straightforward answers,” he said in a statement today.
One of Rahman’s queries was on the “land in lieu of payment” for the project, which he claims was not answered to his liking.
He said a question on the “payment land” given to Consortium Zenith-BUCG (CZBUCG), the joint venture company which was awarded the project, was repeated three times, and only responded with a “its private and confidential” answer.
“I have asked if it is true that CZBUCG agreed to sell the land for between RM845 per sq ft and RM1,300 per sq ft.
“Without giving me a sufficient explanation, the Penang government claims that the Valuation and Property Services Department had valued the land at RM475 per sq ft.
“After querying for the fourth time, (state Public Works Exco) Lim (Hock Seng) gave a shocking answer, saying the land sale between CZBUCG and a third party was a ‘confidential transaction’,” Rahman, who is also Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister said.
The transaction Lim was referring to was Ewein Zenith, a joint venture company between CZBUCG and property developer Ewein Land Sdn Bhd. The JV company currently owns a parcel of land in Bandar Tanjung Pinang given by the Penang government to pay for the undersea tunnel and three paired roads project.
In January 2015, Ewein Land signed a memorandum of agreement to buy the land from CZBUCG at RM1,300 per sq ft. It was reported the purchase price would be RM2.83 billion. The new JV company, where Ewein holds 60% share, plans to build a wellness-concept mall on the land.
Meanwhile, Rahman said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s call for a “toll free” third bridge in replacement of the undersea tunnel was also questionable.
Rahman said Lim had proposed to collect toll in the undersea tunnel project, so as not to hurt the collection of the existing two other cross-channel bridges.
“Now he is proposing for a third bridge without toll.
“Does this mean his ‘I do not want to sabotage’ the second bridge stand had changed?” Rahman asked.
Rahman also demanded an explanation for the higher than usual engineering studies costs, as alleged by Parti Cinta Malaysia vice-president Huan Cheng Guan.
“In his report to the MACC, Huan had said the total cost of RM208.8 million for engineering studies on the three paired roads was 11 percent of the overall project construction cost.
“This is five times higher than the ceiling of 2.54 percent set by the Works Ministry and the Engineers’ Board.”