Tunnel project – BN questions RM208m payment

Penang BN has urged the state government to explain the discrepancy in its payment of RM208 million payment (via land swap) for the feasibility study of three major highway projects.

The highways are part of the undersea tunnel project linking the island to Butterworth on the mainland.

In a statement today, state BN chief Teng Chang Yeow said a China-based company, a partner of Konsortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd - which has been offered the contract to build the tunnel - had announced that the payment for the feasibility study was only US$22 million or about RM90 million.

Teng said this information was obtained from the website of the China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) which claimed that they had secured the job to conduct the feasibility study.

"Will it be right to say that since the state government had paid RM208 million, that means if the feasibility study was US$22 million as stated in the CRCC website, then the exchange rate must have been at RM9.45 to one US dollar?"

"When did the exchange rate hit RM9.45 to one US dollar?" Teng pointed out.

"We are questioning the state government because this involved public monies whether cash or land," he said.

Teng was referring to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's clarification yesterday that 3.7 acres or 1.5ha of land amounting to RM208 million had been swapped as payment for work done to obtain EIA (environment impact studies) approvals for three paired roads which formed part of the undersea tunnel project.

According to the state government, the feasibility study for the undersea tunnel itself was not ready as yet as the project would only commence in 2023.

Teng had also brought up this question, in the state assembly on May 19 last year when state exco member Lim Hock Seng revealed that lot 702 and part of Lot 713 in Bandar Tanjong Tokong had been given to the consortium on Feb 17, 2015 and March 22 last year.

He said the value of the 3.67 acres under Lot 702 was RM135 million and the two acres under a part of Lot 713 was valued at RM73 million bringing the the total value to RM208 million.

"Any payment whether in kind or cash from the state government is public monies and the public is entitled to demand for transparency and accountability," Teng said.

"In public interest, we will continue to raise our concern while knowing fully well that we may end up being sued in their attempts to shut our mouth," he added.

Teng brought the issue of payment for the feasibility study in response to Lim's insistence that the state had yet to pay a single cent for the undersea tunnel.

The chief minister also denied that the state had pre-sold RM3 billion worth of state land to fund the project.

He said the RM208 million was paid only for work done to obtain the EIA (environment impact assessment) approvals for the three highways.- Mkini