The Penang government has rejected allegations by the state BN Youth that a 0.45-hectare plot of land in Penang for the second phase of a people's housing project was sold to a private developer to build a specialist medical centre.

wong hon wai ala wang han wei The land in question is located at Taman Manggis, off Jalan Burmah, with the first phase of the project comprising 320 units of housing on a 1.86-hectare plot having been completed in 2005.

State housing committee chairperson Wong Hon Wai ( left ) said a search at the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) showed that the Housing Ministry on May 10, 2001, approved a plan for the first phase of the project.

Other than this project, there has been no application for "a phase two" for public housing at the site submitted to the MPPP, Wong said.

"From 2001 to 2008, the Barisan Nasional did not submit any plan to the MPPP to build any public housing project on a second phase," Wong told reporters at Komtar. "The details brought up by state BN Youth yesterday must be corrected."

Wong was referring to the claim raised by state BN Youth chief Oh Tong Keong over the public housing project.

NONE Oh, who is also state Gerakan Youth chief, questioned the rationale for building a medical centre at the site when the poor needed housing and he went on to accuse the state of selling land for the poor to private businesses.

Oh also asked if the land was sold via an open tender and criticised the state not making the matter public.

In response, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who was also present at Wong's press conference, said the state had reviewed the piece of land - one acre in size - within the area and found it too small for housing.

Lim said public housing would cause traffic congestion within the area but not a hospital, which would also help to promote medical tourism.

He said another plot of land - seven acres in size on Jalan SP Chelliah - had been earmarked for public housing.

Other sites the state has also identified for affordable housing projects are Teluk Kumbar (2.4ha), Bukit Mertajam (4.8ha), Ampang Jajar (7.6ha), Kampung Jawa, Butterworth (4ha) and Juru (8ha).

‘BN sleeping for five years'

"Those who cannot count will say that we did not benefit at all from this sale. When you replace a one-acre plot of land with seven acres for public housing, who benefits?" asked Lim.

He also refuted allegations that the land was not sold via open tender in 2010, saying the tender notice had been published in newspapers on Feb 16, 2009, six months before the tender was called.

"I held a press conference on July 28, 2010, to announce that there had been an open tender for a medical centre on this land," said Lim, showing reporters copies of the news reports.

Asked if the state's decision to approve the Taman Manggis site for public housing had been minuted in 2003, Lim said: "If the BN leaders had approved it in 2003, why did they not take any action until 2008? They must have been be sleeping."