Now that the Taman Manggis land deal between the Penang government and state BN is off, a Malay NGO wants the BN to fight for a low-cost housing project for the community in Teluk Kumbar.

Penang Malay Congress president Rahmad Isahak has challenged BN Youth to take up the federal government project for 235 low-cost flats that should have been built in Teluk Kumbar in 2005.

NONE Rahmad ( left ) said the 700sq-ft units, worth RM35,000 each, were supposed to be part of a federal government project that was approved in 2005 , and that its development plan was valid until next month.

"However, until today, not a pole has been constructed on the said land. That plot of land now appears more like a burial ground," Rahmad said.

He questioned why the Taman Manggis Phase II project had been given so much of "twists" when a project on a 2.2-acre of land "abandoned" by the federal government was being ignored.

"Why waste public funds, acquire the land and start building those units (in Taman Manggis) where the project plan for Teluk Kumbar has been approved," he asked theb state BN.

Rahmad said the state BN Youth should stop harping on the Taman Manggis public housing issue which has " died , leaving only empty promises".

He cautioned the citizens to be aware that BN had wanted to acquire the Taman Manggis land not through open tender but rather through a "political ploy".

Whither public housing under BN?

After the Kuala Lumpur International Dental Centre won the open tender to purchase the Taman Manggis plot by making the highest bid, the state BN Youth had decried that the plot had been reserved for public housing.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng explained that while the land had been sold, a bigger parcel of 11 acres, off Jalan SP Chelliah and not far from the city centre, had been reserved for low-cost housing.

NONE Despite this, the state BN Youth, led by its chief Oh Tong Keong, ventured to acquire the Taman Manggis plot by making a one percent (RM224,073) downpayment and set up a development company to build low-cost units.

However, the Youth wing refused to pay the remaining sum of the RM22.4 million and demanded that it be given the sale and purchase agreement first.

The state BN Youth also accused Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng of selling the plot twice - once to KLIDC and to the Penang BN after that.

However, Lim maintained that the land title has not been transferred to the private company, insisting that BN Youth pay up the money before a S&P can be issued to them.

"But the question is, can building 150 units of low-cost houses bring back the rakyat's support for BN?" asked Rahmad.

"When the BN was in power, it neglected the poor, it exploited them," he said.

There be no profit for developer

If the BN was sincere in helping the poor, Rahmad added, Phase II of the Taman Manggis plot should have gone through an amalgamation process when Phase I was approved.

He added that he had suspected that it was only "logical and rational" that the deal fell through as the developer would have incurred about 70 percent losses.

"Building cost would have been about RM37 million, while low- or medium-cost units can only be sold at about RM72,000. At 150 units, there would most probably be only about RM10.8 million in earnings, if all had been sold," he said.

"No state agency or private developer will suffer that loss just for the sake of state BN Youth's political propaganda," he added.

"This is the work of those who are insane. The state BN Youth is merely trying to have fun ( syok sendiri ), but due to its ignorance and arrogance, it has buried it instead.

"No wonder Prime Minister Najib Razak did not even mention this issue during his recent trip to Penang. He probably knows that the Taman Manggis affair is just a fantasy of the state BN Youth," Rahmad added.