The Kedah state government has directed the Underwater World Langkawi (UWWL) to settle outstanding entertainment duty debts amounting to RM5 million.

Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak said UWWL had been exempted from entertainment duty from 2004 to 2009, but after the exemption ended, payment had not been made until the arrears ran into millions of ringgit.

“At the beginning, as an encouragement to attract tourists, UWWL had been granted the exemption. After 2009 until now, they never made payments to the state government.

“We will take action against them because they always gave the reason that they wanted to increase their capital and expand this and that, but we knew that they had attracted tourists and collected entrance fees,” he told reporters after chairing an exco meeting in Alor Setar today.

Meanwhile, Azizan said the state government would charge RM3 for each person using the cable car service at Gunung Mat Chinchang, Langkawi.

“We agreed to collect the fees as the cable car glides above rainforests. The state finance will manage the collection through the operator,” he said.

It was understood that the Langkawi cable car management would be taken over by the Langkawi Development Authority (Lada) from Panorama Langkawi Sdn Berhad, starting August.

- Bernama