Sg Petani race track: Kedah govt proposes selling part of land to fund project - MB

 

The Kedah government plans to sell part of the land to be developed for the racing circuit in Sungai Petani to raise funds to finance the construction of the project, says Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Noor.

He said the construction of the circuit, which had begun but then halted for the past few years, would also use the original design that would cost RM30 million.

"The land to develop the circuit is more than 100 acres. The land belongs to Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI). Previously, the Youth and Sports Ministry had allocated RM30 million for the construction of the circuit and RM10 million was spent on earthwork.

"Now the RM20 million in balance is not enough to build the circuit, and we need to find other funds. Apart from that, the RM890,000 payment to the project consultant was also not made by the previous state government," he said when met at the Youth Retreat Programme in Alor Setar yesterday.

He claimed that the previous state government had changed the original plan of the circuit to make it bigger by using international standards at a cost of RM73 million, and the project was later halted due to high costs as the Youth and Sports Ministry was also unable to channel the required additional allocation.

Sanusi said to ensure that the project could run again, the state government would reuse the original plan and design costing RM30 million but would need to find new sources of funds to cover the shortfall.

"Right now, we are at the stage of selling the land. The land will be divided into two parts where one will be developed as a commercial area and the other part for the circuit which will be funded with existing and new funds," he added.

- Bernama