GEORGE TOWN — The Penang Development Corporation (PDC) is in need of a management overhaul, former chief minister Lim Guan Eng said, as pressed the state agency to explain its recent decision to reject a bid offering the best price for land it is trying to sell for the development of the Batu Kawan Industrial Park 2.
Speaking in the Penang legislative assembly today, Lim (Air Putih-PH) said PDC could have earned RM172 million more from a bidder it rejected recently, out of seven shortlisted bids.
The bidder PDC rejected, whom Lim did not name, is said to have offered a purchasing price of RM818 million for the land, which is higher that the RM646 million offered by Umech Land Sdn Bhd previously via direct award, he pointed out.
“PDC could have earned an additional RM172 million from this (recent) open tender than the direct award (previously).
“Why was the RM818 million offer rejected when PDC could have earned more, (especially) at a time when both PDC and state government are facing financial constraints?
“Isn’t this a loss for PDC and the people of Penang?,” asked Lim when debating Penang’s 2025 supply bill today.
He also revealed that he received a written reply from Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, who is also PDC chairman, stating that the agency had selected the wining bidder but then rejected its offer as it failed to comply with five conditions stipulated in the request for proposal (RFP) for the land purchase.
Lim said PDC’s management must state the five RFP conditions the rejected bidder failed to adhere to.
“I am made to understand that a member of PDC’s board of directors was not happy with the decision made.
“I was made to understand that a pre-condition, where the reserve price needs to be agreed upon, has been fulfilled (by the bidder).
“There should be an overhaul in PDC’s management to prevent further wrongdoings and abuse of power,” Lim added.
PDC wants to develop a second Batu Kawan industrial park on 229 ha of land in Byram that it currently owns.
Last year, the sale agreement was made with Umech Land through a direct tender, stirring controversy, as the sale was below market price.
The deal was suspended in October 2023 after a change in the firm’s shareholding that saw the Sunway group emerge as majority shareholder after acquiring 70% stakes in Umech Land via its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sunway Bukit Gambier Sdn Bhd.
It has since been reported that Sunway bought into Umech Land just two days before announcing that Umech Land and PDC had inked a joint development agreement to turn the land into an industrial park with a gross development value of RM3.5 billion.
Following the backlash over this, PDC held a second round of bidding through open tender this year. – November 26, 2024