Penang Development Corp should work on controversial Byram Industrial Park on its own, says Chinese commerce group

GEORGE TOWN, Oct 18 — Penang Development Corporation (PDC) should develop the controversial Batu Kawan Industrial Park 2 (BKIP2) on its own instead of outsourcing it to a third party, Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce (PCCC) president Datuk Seri Hong Yeam Wah said today.

He said PDC had successfully developed nine other industrial zones previously.

“Based on its own experience and track record as proven in the development of those industrial parks in the past 50 years, we believe PDC can undertake this project instead of privatising it to external parties,” he said in a press conference at PCCC here.

He added that it was unnecessary for PDC to call for a request for proposal (RFP) for the project.

“When it’s sold to a third party, they can’t control the prices of the plots to sell to investors so they might hike up the prices and this could turn investors away,” he said.

He said if the project was developed by PDC instead, it could control the price and set it at competitive pricing to attract investors.

Since Penang is already short of land, he said it is in the best interest of the state for PDC to have full control of the land by developing it themselves.

The BKIP2 project, also known as the Byram Industrial Park, was mired in controversy over the last two weeks after Hong raised concerns over the direct award of the land by PDC to UMECH Land Sdn Bhd for RM646.02 million, which he claimed was significantly below the value of the land.

In his statement responding to PCCC, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the project was awarded to UMECH after a business matching exercise in EXPO Dubai 2020.

PDC issued a statement yesterday to announce that the deal with UMECH Land has since been terminated, and a request for proposal will be called for the BKIP2 soon.

“We asked why the deal was with UMECH Land when PDC had held all the discussions with UMECH Construction,” he said, referring to his letter in July.

He added that Chow had failed to explain this and that the whole process for the deal was not so transparent.

Hong claimed that UMECH Land was a dormant company with no projects in the past five years, and said even Chow’s claims that UMECH Construction was financially sound were not true as a CTOS report on the company revealed that it has debts of RM39.99 million with 215 per cent gearing ratio.

“The state government must fully investigate this deal and find out how this can go through without the knowledge of the board of directors,” he said, adding that it is time that the PDC management be reshuffled.

“The land sale fiasco was an eye-opener to outsiders, exposing the arrogance of the PDC management, which has seen the executive powers ride roughshod over the board of directors of PDC and the state government,” he said.