Penang Gerakan has queried why the state government sold land in Taman Manggis at Jalan Zainal Abidin in George Town to a private company at what it described as extremely low price.

Its secretary, Oh Tong Keong, claimed that in 2010, an abandoned site located about 100 metres from the People's Housing Project was sold at RM910 per sq ft.

He said the building located opposite Taman Manggis was bought by Phang Li Koon, the original owner of the bungalow now owned by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

"Phang bought the building from a company before Taman Manggis was sold in 2011, but the Taman Manggis site was sold for as low as RM232 per sq ft.

"The state government needs to explain why the Taman Manggis land was sold so low and the difference is about RM700 in a period of one year," he said at a press conference on Taman Manggis in George Town today.

Oh said the party wanted the state government to disclose the open tender documents for the Taman Manggis land so that the people could evaluate whether the sale of the land was transparent or otherwise.

The issue of the Taman Manggis land was recently raised by Tasek Gelugor MP Shabudin Yahaya in the Dewan Rakyat and he had asked the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate.

Meanwhile, Lim at a press conference at Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak (Komtar), said he was disappointed Shabudin, who is Penang Regional Development Authority chairperson, did not take up his invitation to meet.

He said Shabudin should be present to discuss the sale of Perda land at below market price, causing a loss of RM15.2 million to the government agency.

Yesterday, Lim invited Shabudin to meet over the sale of 3.4 hectares of land, including a proposal to build 27 lots of shophouses by the developer on the land.

Last Friday, Shabudin at a press conference said Perda sold the land at RM1.42 million on condition the developer built more low-cost and affordable houses at between RM42,000 and RM72,000.

- Bernama

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