No plan to sell Pulau Besar to Singapore company, says Melaka CM

Melaka Chief Minister Adly Zahari says the Melaka State Development Corporation and the Melaka Islamic Religious Council only own 20% of the land area in Pulau Besar.

MELAKA: Melaka Chief Minister Adly Zahari today denied allegations that the state government is in the midst of selling Pulau Besar to a private company from Singapore, as viralled on Facebook recently.

He said the Melaka State Development Corporation and the Melaka Islamic Religious Council, which only have ownership of 20% of the land on the island, had never intended to sell their shares to any party.

Instead, they intend to develop it as another tourism product for the state next year.

“About 80% of Pulau Besar is owned by Tan Sri Wan Azmi Wan Hamzah and there is no issue of the state government wanting to sell its existing share.

“So far, we don’t have any information regarding Tan Sri Wan Azmi’s portion of the land,” he told a press conference after chairing the state executive council meeting here.

Elaborating, he said the state government was currently working with Universiti Teknologi Mara to develop a tourism industry development plan for the island through an allocation of RM500,000 from the federal government.

Meanwhile, Adly said the state government had identified 46 flood-prone areas — 15 each in the Melaka Tengah and Jasin districts and 16 in Alor Gajah.

In another development, Adly said the state government would discuss with the Melaka Health Department on the need to carry out a health screening process at the state border areas to prevent the spread of the polio virus.

“We will discuss the control and screening method as Melaka receives a large number of tourists,” he said. - FMT