Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim (above) has accused Gerakan secretary-general Liang Teck Meng of making misleading statements on Penang's lease payments for water assets.
Yesterday, Liang criticised Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng for claiming that former finance minister Najib Abdul Razak hid national debt by excluding lease payments for schools, hospitals and police stations among others.
According to Liang, Lim had done the same when he was Penang chief minister by converting a RM655 million debt to a yearly RM14.55 million lease payment for 45 years.
"At that time, he claimed that lease payments are just normal operating expenses and not debt and should not be included in the state debt calculations," he said while accusing Lim of now trying to mislead the public that lease payments should be considered part of the national debt.
In response, Sim said was referring to the 45-year interest-free payment for the RM655.2 million debt over Putrajaya's decision to take over Penang's water assets.
He said the deal, under Putrajaya's National Water Services Restructuring Initiative (NWSRI), had also included a RM1.2 billion federal government grant for the expansion of the Mengkuang Dam.
"This is a smart move of the Penang state government to enter into the water debt restructuring exercise despite being at odds with the federal ruling party at that time.
"It must be noted that the RM655.2 million debt was incurred by the Gerakan-led Penang BN government," said Sim in a statement today.
Sim said the lease was borne by PBAPP Sdn Bhd, a profitable, revenue-generating company, unlike 1MDB Bhd which was insolvent and unable to repay its own debts.
He added that Liang, who was once the National Water Service Commission (Span) chairperson, had repeatedly misled the public on Penang's debt reduction successes.
A check with Span revealed that the position of chairperson was now vacant.
Lim had revealed last week that the federal government's debt stood at RM1,087.3 trillion which the Pakatan Harapan government defined to include government guarantees and lease payments for public-private partnerships. -Mkini
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