Documents proving that the Taman Manggis land was proposed for mixed development by the previous BN administration will be released tomorrow, disclosed Penang executive councillor on housing, Jagdeep Singh Deo.

He said the decision in the documents superseded the memo dated July 1, 2003 which proposed that the 1.251 acres of land be used to build housing for the poor.

The memo , exposed by Gerakan recently, stated that there was a proposal to develop the land along Jalan Zainal Abidin into a 14 storey block comprising of 160 units for the poor.

“That proposal was actually replaced by a new proposal that the land be used for mixed development and government quarters,” Jagdeep said in a press conference today.

“Documents which prove this will be revealed after they are declassified tomorrow, at the state executive council meeting,” added the DAP assemblyperson for Dato Keramat .

Taman Manggis - a plot of state government land - came into focus after its sale was linked to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s purchase of a bungalow on Jalan Pinhorn for RM2.8 million in 2015.

Umno Tasek Gelugor MP Shabudin Yahaya claimed in Parliament on March 17 that Lim allegedly bought the 30-year old house below market value.

Shabudin also claimed that the sale of the land was linked to the sale of the Taman Manggis land in 2010 to a private developer to build a dental medical centre.

Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, denied any wrongdoing, while the bungalow seller, Phang Li Koon, signed a statutory declaration on March 22, declaring that she did not gain from the sale of the unit.

Lim is supposed to be questioned this week by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, which has opened a file to investigate the eight reports it received from various quarters on the CM’s purchase of the unit.

Federal government's responsibility

Meanwhile, Jagdeep clarified that public housing remain projects are to be implemented by the federal government, not state.

He cited Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Budget 2016 speech which stated that the federal government, via the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry, will continue to implement public housing projects.

The projects, which were allocated funds amounting to RM863 million, consists of plans to build 22,300 flats and 9,800 terrace houses for the lower income group.

“It is clear that the question of the state government building housing for the poor does not arise,” Jagdeep said.

“The question is, how many of these units mentioned by Najib, would be built in Penang?” Jagdeep asked.

“Until today, the Penang government has not been informed about any plans by the federal government to build public housing, as announced by the prime minister.

Jagdeep urged the federal government to inform the Penang government on the number of public housing units it plans to develop in the state.

He added that Penangites should not be denied of public housing, which the federal government has the duty to built.

“In any case, just for the record, Penang is the state with the lowest number of public housing units built (by the federal government),” Jagdeep pointed out.