The finance minister said this meant that land sold to multi-national corporations in the electronics sector, or for educational institutions or for the likes of Ikea as well as land sold to establish the Bayan Lepas Free Trade Zone by the Barisan Nasional government were not included when he spoke of the total land sold by Penang.
Lim previously said that the Penang government sold only 106 acres or 36 times less than the 3,661 acres of land sold by the previous BN government.
He revealed the figures last week following former prime minister Najib Razak’s claim that Penang’s financial performance over the last 10 years, which showed an annual budget surplus, reduction in state debts by 90% and increase in asset reserves by 140%, was due to the sale of land for profit.
Today, Lim accused Najib of “deliberately confusing” between land sold by the state government for revenue in contrast to land sold for national development and job creation.
“Najib is also wrong when he said that among the land sold by the Pakatan government under my administration included land for tunnels projects and the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) where land reclamation rights were granted,” he said in a statement.
Lim added that the 1,000 acres of land reclaimed for the tunnel project were approved by the previous BN administration and sold at RM1 per square foot.
He also brushed off Najib’s attempt to claim credit for Penang’s success in reducing its debts by 90% when the federal government took over Perbadanan Bekalan Air’s(PBA) water debts of RM655 million.
Lim said the federal government obtained PBA assets in exchange for taking over the state government’s debts and noted that a similar water-restructuring exercise was conducted in other states.
“Despite this, the debts in other states was not reduced.
As of April this year, Lim said, the 13 state governments owed the federal government a total of RM17.64 billion, with Pahang owing RM3.12 billion, while Penang had only incurred a debt of RM60.2 million.
“Is this not the administration of competency, accountability and transparency at work?” he asked.