Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has often been labelled 'pro-developer' but one particular developers’ association is strongly denying that it has received any favours from the present state government.

NONE The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (Penang Branch) chairman Jerry Chan ( left ) said, on the contrary, Lim has made life "more difficult and burdensome" for developers.

Chan said that accusing Lim of being pro-developer is"unfair" as under the current administration, there has never been an instant where land is alienated without tender or advertising the deed.

"Has he done any of that? In Selangor, we have seen RM2 companies getting land, who are the people behind it? Many of them do not have the experience at all," Chan said in an interview with Malaysiakini .

"But under this government, land is sold always by tender and to the highest bidder. I think that is a very fair situation.

“When they say he has been very pro-developer, all I can say is please quote me the examples. The CM is not our darling," added Chan, whose association represents more than 70 developers in the state.

Chan qualifies his remark by adding that the state government has become more stringent with developers in cases of eviction, when it involves residences, villagers or squatters.

NONE He cited the controversial case of Kampung Buah Pala, where the state intervened to warn the developer if a "fair and happy settlement" is not offered, "we are going to make it not so pleasant for you".

Chan laughs at this, adding "interpret it anyway you like. So in that kind of scenario, how can it be seen as the state government toeing (the) developers’ line? It’s not the case at all".

But the flip side of all this is that there has now been "more clarity, better communication and more avenues to voice out grievances" when dealing with the present administration, he said.

'Make the rules clear and we will abide by it'

Meanwhile, Chan says surprisingly, developers also want accountability, transparency and rule of law when doing their work and dealing with the government.

He said like any good citizen, developers do not want to engage in corruption and would prefer to play by the rules.

Make the rules clear and developers will abide by it, he added.

"If our building plans do not comply to rules or regulations or they are short of the requirements, reject them. We accept that.

"But if we comply with everything, and it is not approve, then we will question and hope to get the answers," he stressed.

NONE Lim ( left ), who is DAP secretary-general, has been slapped with allegations of being "corrupt" and being buddies with developers, as his opponents in the Barisan Nasional highlights incidences of state land being sold to private companies.

Lim has shot back by declaring that the state government has set up a special committee to probe about 4,000 acres of land which had been sold cheaply by the previous government under BN.

He has also been slapped with weeks of allegations that his administration has approved hill side development, but Lim, in turn, faced it by exposing details of 37 similar projects which had obtain approved before Pakatan Rakyat took over the state in 2008.

Lim's administration has continued to be criticised for not emphasising on public housing but the Bagan MP says that even Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has shown no love for Penang in his Budget 2013.

No top-level corruption, but...

When asked if developers have come across incidences of corruption when dealing with the state government or local councils to get their development plans approved, Chan assured Malaysiakini that as far as he was concerned, there is no corruption at the decision-making level at the top.

However, he cannot guarantee there is none on the technical side or down the line.

"Because on and off we do find situations where there are people who put unnecessary roadblocks, hurdles and unfair conditions on us.

"We often find that there is pattern to this behaviour and when we see a pattern to it, we know something is not quite right," he noted.

azlan "When that happens, we take it up with the authorities, and say we think there is something fishy, please look at it," he added.

Chan says that there are times when he received complaints that certain individuals are demanding money from developers, be he declined to elaborate further.

When this happens, Chan said that he would highlight the matter to the relevant authorities to have the incident probed and in extreme cases, to prompt action upon the culprits.

He added that at the end of the day, it is what type of government developers want or choose to work with.

He stressed that by and large developers, too,do not tolerate abuse of power, and want a government that does not allow corruption to fester.

But are developers satisfied with the level of response they get after lodging their grievances to relevant authorities?

To this, Chan said developers now believe that there is an avenue for them to raise their concerns, even when it comes to matters involving corruption or abuse of power, and are confident that matters are looked into properly.

"We do not expect every complaint to be attended to our satisfaction but at least we know that if we complain, the officer we bring our concerns to is not going to slam the door at our faces," he quipped.