Sudden closure of theme park suspicious

Penang BN wants full disclosure by state government on why theme park was closed.

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Barisan Nasional (BN) has asked the Penang government to come clean on the closure of the Wet World Wild (WWW) water theme park in Batu Ferringhi.

Its chairman, Teng Chang Yeow, said the state government must explain to the public the real issue behind the closure of the park earlier this month.

“The public is keen to know why a project in collaboration with a state agency can go off just like that within eight months.

“Whether there is any shortchange; what was offered then and what happened now,” he told reporters at the Gerakan Deepavali open house last night.

The WWW was a project by Theme Park Concepts and Services Sdn Bhd (TPCS) in collaboration with Penang Global Tourism (PGT), the state tourism bureau.

The park was opened in December last year but reportedly closed early this month after strong waves damaged park equipment.

Teng said if the equipment could be easily damaged and dismantled, then the park had never been safe.

“But from the start, they told people it was safe and the state government never disputed that, and that means they endorsed it,” he said.

Teng said Penang Gerakan could not buy the reason given by the state government over the water theme park closure.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, earlier this week, said the state government did not want to interfere and allowed the park operator to make its own decision.

He also said that the state government was not involved in the water theme park but only collected rent from the operator.

Teng said it was not just a business decision to close the park as the facility just operated for eight months, and added that if it was a business decision then something was wrong with the venture.

“We also want to know whether the RM8,000 rental for the usage of the site and the sea was paid up by the company (TPCS),” he said.

Teng said that though the park was a private venture, the state government should not walk away from its responsibility because the project involved a state agency.

- BERNAMA