KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 — The Penang Turf Club’s open tender for its 202-acre prime property valued at over RM1 billion has ended without any qualified bids, the club announced.
General manager and secretary Leow Khin Ming said the tender process, which concluded yesterday, did not produce successful offers.
“The club will now continue with alternative avenues for the realisation of its properties,” Leow told Free Malaysia Today.
Members of the 160-year-old club had voted overwhelmingly to dissolve it and sell its land during an extraordinary general meeting on June 10.
The Penang Turf Club, established in 1864, occupies 202 acres of prime land in Batu Gantong.
In 2011, it sold 57.3 acres of its original 259-acre site to Berjaya Land Bhd for RM459 million to develop a low-density housing project.
In 2002, the club had agreed to sell the entire Batu Gantong site to Abad Naluri Sdn Bhd for RM488 million.
The developer planned to build the Penang Global City Centre (PGCC), a RM25 billion mixed-use project featuring shopping malls, hotels, residences, offices, and a cultural centre.
However, public protests and the developer’s failure to meet council requirements led to the project being rejected in 2008.
The PGCC project was widely regarded as a factor in Gerakan’s loss of power in Penang.
