Friday, November 27, 2015

Stop blaming Barisan, Penang MCA tells Guan Eng

The DAP-led Penang should stop blaming the previous Barisan Nasional government over the pawning off state assets and the construction of the Penang Undersea Tunnel, according to MCA.

Its Penang liaison committee deputy chairman Tan Teik Cheng (pix) said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng must not accuse Barisan over such issues in an attempt to deceive voters.

He said when the state government unveiled its Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), the move was deemed as a huge achievement to improve the traffic conditions in the state.

“In Aug 2013, the state government announced that it had entered into a joint-venture with three consortiums as its programme delivery partner (PDP) for the PTMP worth RM27bil. 

“However, Guan Eng later gave the excuse that the plan needs to be approved by the Federal Government, thus proving that Guan Eng's claim that the previous Barisan state government had approved the plan is fake,” Tan said in a statement on Friday. 

Tan also said the actions of the five PKR state representatives who had abstained on Umno’s motion to stop land reclamation projects revealed that Guan Eng was lying when he said that Penang would go bankrupt if the projects were stopped because of the need to pay a huge compensation.

“By now, I believe that Guan Eng is running out of place to turn to. He must state clearly, if the land reclamation projects were to be stopped, is it Penang which will become bankrupt, or is it himself? 

“He must also explain why the approval was given without public consultation” said Tan.

Lim had previously said that the state might go bankrupt if the Tanjung Pinang land reclamation project was postponed.

He made the comments in the wake of a controversy resulting from a motion on reclamation tabled by Muhamad Farid Saad (BN-Pulau Betong) at the state assembly sitting last week.

The motion attracted attention when DAP assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu voted for it together with all the nine Barisan assemblymen present in the House while five PKR backbenchers abstained.

Twenty-three others (18 from DAP, four from PKR and one from PAS) voted against the motion which had called for public hearings to be held for all projects and concessions involving land reclamation for development as an exchange to fund the cost of infrastructure or public transport projects or any other development.

The motion had also called for the suspension of all new land reclamation plans in the state until a detailed study on their environmental and social impacts were carried out, and to cancel such plans if they had negative effects.

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