He then accused the DAP of making a “highly defamatory conclusion” of abuse of power, based on the High Court ruling made on Monday against developer BHL Construction Sdn Bhd over a 12-month extension which resulted in housebuyers not being able to claim compensation.
Rahman also revealed that his former ministry will be filing an appeal against the landmark decision by the High Court.
Rahman was responding to Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, who on Wednesday had said that the former had abused his powers while in charge of the ministry.
Ramasamy made the accusation at a press conference where Batu Kawan DAP leaders, Satees Muniandy and P David Marshel, declared they had lodged a police report alleging that the wife of Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali had lobbied to Rahman on behalf of the developer for the extension.
Rahman served as urban wellbeing, housing and local government minister from May 2013 until June 2016. The current minister is Noh Omar.
“In the particular case referred to by the DAP, there is no abuse of power as the decision I took was based on the powers clearly given to the urban wellbeing, housing and local government minister as stated in Act 118.
“With respect to support letters, I can assure the public that all applications are approved based solely on merit. No support letters can supersede the stringent procedures in approving the extension of delivery date application,” Rahman said.
He explained that an extension of delivery date is only given after stringent checks are made by the ministry on the project concerned, and if a developer faces delays due to circumstances beyond his control, including flooding, new regulations by authorities such as stop orders or policies pertaining to supply of construction materials and workers.
“The most important and difficult questions we face are if the housing project will be abandoned by the developer should an extension not be granted, and will the housebuyers be in a worse off position should that happen.
“Hence, we give due consideration to the less painful impact of a delay and the housebuyers waiving their right to compensation, against the whole project being abandoned,” Rahman said, explaining the ministry’s officers will determine if the circumstances facing the developer are genuine or otherwise.
He added that the responsibility of the minister is to all parties, including suppliers of raw materials, financial institutions, developers and the buyers.
Taking a swipe at Ramasamy, Rahman, who is now a minister in the prime minister’s department, said such extension of delivery is not unique to the federal government, and questioned if there are contractors who have been granted such extensions in Penang too.
“Will the Penang state government categorically deny that they have not issued any extention of delivery date to any contractors since 2008?”