The Penang government has dismissed claims that it is willing to spend RM305 million on feasibility study for the undersea tunnel instead of flood mitigation works.

Penang has urged the federal government to approve its application of RM350 million for the third phase of flood mitigation withheld since 2008 after Pakatan Rakyat (now Harapan) took over the state from BN.

State executive councillor Lim Hock Seng questioned why Putrajaya refused to approve the allocation as it would truly address flood issues in Penang.

"The flood mitigation work in Sungai Pinang is a federal government project and it is not appropriate for the state to intervene in the project," he said in a statement.

"The attack on the state government over the flood mitigation project is seen as Putrajaya trying to wash its hands off its responsibility in implementing the project.

"This is a one-sided and unfair attack against the state government," Lim added.

He was referring to the massive flash flood in several areas of the island on Oct 29, dampening the Deepavali mood.

Although the flood water receded in less than an hour after the rain stopped, critics condemned the situation as the "worst flood in the history of Penang".

DAP's opponents had blamed overdevelopment and hill-clearing for the massive flood.

However, Lim said that floods happened in areas where there were no ongoing development projects.

"Floods did not happen in areas where there are development projects as developers have taken measures to protect hills slopes," he said.

Meanwhile, Hock Seng explained that the RM305 million for feasibility study involves the road and undersea tunnel project related to Bandar Sri Tanjung.

Bandar Sri Tanjung involves reclamation and the creation of an artificial island which was approved by the previous BN state government, Hock Seng said.

It was approved by having the developer pay RM1 psf and giving 50 acres of net saleable area to the state government, Hock Seng reminded.

"The offer by the BN administration was very cheap and was not in the interest of the public," recalled Hock Seng.

"This is why the current state government requested for more land from the developer E&O, for a traffic dispersal system including the RM6.3 billion highway and undersea tunnel, which will link Gurney Drive to Butterworth," Hock Seng added.

Traffic dispersal was the basis for the smooth implementation of the Bandar Seri Tanjung project.

Therefore, E&O agreed to give more land - from 50 to 190 acres - to pay for the cost and traffic dispersal project.

"The drainage system is not an issue because the sea reclamation does not bring any impact of flooding within the area," Hock Seng said.

"So to compare the traffic dispersal project with the flood mitigation project is not right, it is like comparing a port to an airport.

"Don't compare oranges and apples'" Hock Seng said.

"We hope the federal government will not let go of its responsibility for the flood mitigation project like how it cancelled the Penang Outer Ring Road and light rail transit projects."