Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has turned his guns at a rival politician yet again, accusing him of "lying in broad daylight".

He accused state Gerakan chief Dr Teng Hock Nan of lying in saying the Pakatan Rakyat state government had objected to several mega-projects from the BN-led federal government.

NONE Lim ( left ) said he Teng's lies are regrettable, starting with the allegation that the maintenance cost rental for his official car, PG1, costs RM50,000 a month.

"This is not true at all. When we expose him, he is speechless, but today, he lies again," said Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general.

"It is the BN that protested against development projects in 2008," he told a press conference in Penang today, where he also showed newspaper cuttings, one of which was on the state BN government calling for the second Penang bridge plan to be scrapped.

"Teng should blame Umno, not Pakatan, because we did not reject the building of the second bridge," he said.

"I truly (deplore the fact) that he (Teng) can lie in broad daylight... if he treats his patients the way he lies in politics, his patients would surely be in deep trouble."

Teng, a medical doctor who is also Penang BN chairperson, had recently accused Lim of trying to sow conflict between the federal government and the people of Penang as part of his politicking.

He said the question of the federal government marginalising the Penang government "does arise at all".

Lim had reportedly complained that the federal government's allocation of RM700 million for Penang from 20010-2008 constituted only three percent of the RM25.6 billion the state had contributed in revenue to federal coffers during that period.

Teng responded by saying that the allocation is only the annual grant from the federal government and it goes into the state's consolidated fund.

He said that, under the 9th Malaysia Plan, the federal government had provided RM7.176 billion to 56 departments and agencies to carry out 1,017 projects in the state, excluding a string of mega- projects totalling RM8.56 billion.

Bickering over projects

Teng had further accused the state of causing "a lot of problems" in the implementation of the Second Penang Bridge and the Penang Outer Ring Road to ease traffic congestion in the island.

Lim retorted by saying that of gerakan cirtisize penang pakatan state financial strategy 301010 teng hock nan all the mega-projects Teng had listed, only three were under the state government.

These were the Sungai Pinang flood mitigation, Penang Hill funicular railway and Sungai Prai restoration projects, which amounted to about RM200 million in total.

"Teng (right) doesn't understand because he does not know accounts, which is why the Seberang Perai Municipal Council lost RM230 million in seven years... the money was (just frittered away), unaccounted for until today," Lim said.

He reiterated that projects like the Penang Bridge or its second link mostly benefited their private owners, who would collect toll from commuters.

The bridge project was a "private financial initiative', with those having to pay for its cost being the people, not the federal government, he added.