MACC urged to probe not all sugar and sPICE deal
The BN Youth wing suspect something fishy in the way the contracts were given out for the RM300 million sPICE project.
(Free Malaysia Today) – The proposed RM300 million subterranean Penang International Convention and Exhibition Center (sPICE) has got the opposition Barisan Nasional all riled up.
The BN Youth wing feels that there is something fishy in the way the contracts for the project was handed out.
The Youth wing has lodged a graft report at the Penang office of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah here today.
The report claims that the project contained elements of nepotism and cronyism. Its Youth chief Oh Tong Keong asked why under the deal, the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) was obliged to set aside a land for free to sPICE developer Eco-Meridian Sdn Bhd (EMSB), a subsidiary of SP Setia Bhd.
He claimed EMSB/Setia is being allowed to build 450 low-medium-cost houses (LMS) on the free land and pocket all the proceeds from the sales.
Oh also accused Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng of misleading the people by claiming earlier that the LMCs would cost below RM72,500 per unit.
“However, under the agreement, the LMCs would be sold for more than that,” he alleged.
In the concession deal inked between MPPP and EMSB, SP Setia, which is financing the bulk of sPICE construction cost, will be allowed to build an extra 1,500 houses each in the various projects it would undertake in Penang island.
The developer has also been given various tax concessions for the sPICE project.
“Why SP Setia was given so many concessions? Is it an ad-hoc policy based on favouritism?” asked Oh, who is also the Gerakan state Youth chief.
‘Guan Eng has misled the people’
Previously, Lim claimed that MPPP, which currently maintains the Penang International Sports Arena (PISA), would invest only RM11.5 million in the project, via a public-private partnership agreement with EMSB.
However, Gerakan lawyers, who were allowed to scrutinise the agreement under a controlled environment in Komtar two weeks ago, revealed that MPPP would contribute a whopping RM50 million for the project.
