Did Selangor govt lose RM4.2 billion over Ijok land, asks BN

See-To says the state could have made a net gain of RM4.2 billion regardless of the potential liability that the state could have incurred.

PETALING JAYA: Eric See-To has suggested that the Selangor government has failed not only the settlers in the Ijok land issue but themselves by not maximising the potential earnings from the 3,200 acres of land involved.

According to the Barisan Nasional strategic communications (BNSC) deputy director, the state could have made a net gain of RM4.2 billion regardless of the potential liability that the state could have incurred.

“Both Yin Shao Loong, who is communications director in the Selangor MB’s office, and PKR MP Sivarasa, said former Selangor menteri besar Khalid’s (Khalid Ibrahim) approach could have led to a potential liability of RM1.4 billion to the state government even after recovering the land in Ijok.

“In their own words, as reported, the absolute worst case scenario meant the Selangor government would end up paying RM1.4 billion as compensation for the 3,200 acres of land.

“They said this would be the scenario whether the Selangor government loses or just decides to settle and pay damages for each and every one of the so-called 30 cases by the settlers,” See-To said.

He added that with ECO World Development Group Bhd having already paid RM1.18 billion for 2,200 acres owned by two companies, that would mean the remaining 1,000 acres belonging to the settlers could have been handled differently.

“The listed company paid a total of RM320 million to the settlers, but as Sivarasa said, the land had already been zoned as industrial and commercial – meaning the price would be certainly much higher than the RM12.34 psf price that the listed company had paid for the 2,200 acres.

“Prices for comparable land of a similar status for such zoned land there is now RM35 to RM65psf. Therefore, selling the land via open tender would have obtained a higher price,” he said.

See-To then said, the above scenario also puts the Selangor government in a negative light, as the whole 3,200 acres could have been auctioned off without bringing any other company into the picture.

“So, why didn’t the Selangor government use open tender to sell the whole land parcel? As DAP has frequently alleged, when you don’t use open tender it means there is possible corruption.

“This is because assuming that the Selangor government just gets RM40psf for the 3,200 acres, the total price would be RM5.57 billion.

“Therefore, even in the worst case scenario that Yin and Sivarasa had stated, having a liability of RM1.4 billion, but doing so to get RM5.57 billion seems to be the saner thing to do which will result in a profit of RM4.2 billion for the state government.”

He added that his solution to the Ijok land scandal does not even take into account the potential billions of ringgit in revenue, had the state then gone into joint-development or sold development rights.

“This would have been better instead of selling the land outright, and could have brought in more profits from a RM15 billion to RM20 billion Gross Development Value (GDV) property project.”

See-To cited ECO World Development Group’s RM15 billion GDV project on the 2,200 acres, saying a project on 3,200 acres will have significantly higher GDV.

Pay settlers from state reserves

He also questioned the state government’s reasoning that they wanted to ensure the settlers were compensated as soon as possible.

“Why didn’t the state government just spend the RM300 million out of its state reserves of RM3 billion to pay for houses for the settlers while it gets back the 3,200 acres of land from the ‘crony’ companies?

“I wonder if Pakatan leaders all failed in mathematics and business logic or that there is corruption and wrongdoing in ensuring ‘crony companies’ linked to strong supporters of Dr Mahathir Mohamad got RM880 million while the settlers only got RM300 million?”

Last month, BNSC director Abdul Rahman Dahlan had reportedly asked Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali why the state government had “hastily” returned a piece of disputed land in Ijok worth RM1.18 billion to two housing developers in 2016, especially when the High Court and Court of Appeal had, in 2013 and 2014, ruled that the land belonged to the state.

The land in Ijok was initially given to a group of settlers in the state in 1998 by the then-BN state government. The settlers later agreed to allow two companies, Mujur Zaman Sdn Bhd and LBCN Development Sdn Bhd, to develop the land in exchange for compensation and housing. The land was then sold to a third party.

It was reported in 2015 that ECO World Development Group Bhd had bought the parcel of land in the northwestern Klang Valley corridor for RM1.18 billion to develop three property projects, worth an estimated RM15 billion in gross development value.

It was from that RM1.18 billion that the state settled a payment of RM300 million to the settlers. -FMT