Land reclamation deals will be made public from Thursday, says Penang government

GEORGE TOWN (Feb 3): The Penang government will be publicly disclosing its land reclamation agreements in Bayan Mutiara and Pantai Jerejak which were inked by the present administration.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (pictured) said the state government would be informing the people of the procedures, time and place to access the documents beginning this Thursday.

"The state secretary will issue a statement tomorrow to inform the people how and where they can access the documents.

"The documents will be released under the Freedom of Information Act," he told a press conference at Komtar yesterday.

The documents to be disclosed will be on the 35 acre (14.16ha) land reclamation by Tropicana Ivory Sdn Bhd in Bayan Mutiara and the 25 acre (10ha) land reclamation by Ideal Gim Venture in Pantai Jerejak.

Lim said the state would reveal the approvals given for the two projects.

He promised to reveal the documents in December last year when the state government came under fire over plans to have land reclaimed off the southern coast of Penang island to fund the ambitious RM27 billion Penang Transport Master Plan.

He also planned to release documents on land reclamation projects signed during the previous administration under Barisan Nasional, but the agreements were protected by confidentiality clauses.

"We have received word from IJM and E & O Bhd. They have declined to waive the confidentiality clauses to reveal their agreements.

"The state has consulted our legal adviser and we have been told to respect their decision. There is nothing we can do about that," he said.

Both IJM and E & O have been reclaiming land off the northern and eastern coasts of Penang island for their The Light and Sri Tanjong Pinang multi-billion ringgit development projects respectively. -- The Malaysian Insider

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