He said this in response to accusations of delays in getting approval as well as rejections from the state authorities to applications by federal agencies wanting to build affordable homes.
“Just because you are a federal government agency, you want special attention? The answer is no.
“I have no grievance against federal agencies, I just have grievance for those who are against compliance,” Jagdeep said today.
Yesterday, Penang Federal Action Council chairman Zainal Abidin Osman claimed that the Penang government was biased in the approval of housing development projects, by favouring private developers.
“The Penang government gave federal agencies a hard time with their plans to build affordable homes. There also seems to be a fast lane for certain developers while federal agencies were shoved to the slow lane,” Zainal, who is also Penang Umno liaison chairman, had alleged.
Jagdeep rubbished Zainal’s claims, saying it was the federal agencies ignorance of laws that saw their applications getting delayed or fail in getting approval.
Giving the example of an application by 1Malaysia People’s Home (PR1MA) in Balik Pulau, Jagdeep said the federal agency had applied to build a 29-floor apartment, when the height restriction in that area was a maximum of 15 floors.
He added the price was also beyond the allowable mark which was set at RM510,000.
Jagdeep said the state housing committee had met 16 times with federal agencies, and practiced an open door policy for anyone who wanted to talk.
On the claim of a “fast lane for favoured developers”, he dismissed it saying that applications by big developers have been rejected many times by the Penang government before.
“There is no fast lane. Just one lane. We treat everyone equally. Please tell me who is getting preferential treatment?
“As we speak, I approved Perda’s (federal agency) project yesterday. They managed to comply with the rules so they were given permission to build homes,” Jagdeep said, adding it was unfair of Zainal to say the Penang government had purposely delayed affordable housing projects by the federal authorities.