Penang Umno liaison chief Zainal Abidin Osman has queried why the state government purchased homes from a private developer to be sold to bumiputera.

In a statement today, he claimed that the state had purchased units from its own project in Jalan SP Chelliah with the intention of selling it to the bumiputera.

"Why is it that this is done only for this project? Why is this not done for any other projects developed by other private developers?" asked Zainal, who is also the Penang-Federal Action Committee chairperson.

The project in SP Chelliah was inked by the state agency, Penang Development Corporation with private firm Zubicon SDn Bhd, to build 1,900 units of affordable homes.

The project sits on land belonging to Penang Island City Council, and is part 11,800 units of affordable homes being built in Batu Kawan on the mainland.

Zainal urged the state government to explain how many bumiputera units have been released to be sold to non-bumiputera since 2009.

"It seems the Penang government is not interested in providing homes to bumiputera," he said.

Zainal was responding to the 2016 Auditor-General's Report, which stated the amount of money in the Penang Bumiputera Housing Trust Fund to be at RM110.93 million, an RM15.31 million increase from RM85.62 million at the end of 2015.

The increase was due to the contributions by developers for the release of bumiputera quotas for 49 housing projects or 1,663 units in 2016, said the report.

Up to December 2016, RM4.64 million was spent on purchasing 320 units of low-cost homes in the state's affordable housing project at The Rise, SP Chelliah Road, the report further added.

Zainal said since 2009, the state government had not built any homes to replace the bumiputera units which had been released.

Only in 2016, the money from the Trust Fund was used to buy the state's low-medium cost homes which are built by private developers, he added.

"The quota for bumiputera homes are controlled by the government, and the same goes for the affordable homes," Zainal noted.

From 2008 to 2016, 34 projects under the federal government had been completed by four government agencies, to provide 5,950 affordable homes for Penang, Zainal said.

A total of 19 projects is in the process of implementation, involving 4,017 units, while another 39 new projects involving 46,602 units are being planned in the state, he added.

Zainal said 56,569 affordable homes are completed, in the process of implementation and planning, by federal agencies between 2008 to 2016.

"The state government is happier to show its ability to collect money and keep it than to provide affordable homes to bumiputera in Penang.

"This approach, from a moral and social perspective, is a denial of bumiputera's right to own houses. Penangites must be aware of the DAP leadership's tricks and lies," he added.