Claim about federal agencies making huge profits shot down

THE Penang Federal Action Council has refuted the claim by a state exco member that Federal Government agencies stand to earn profits worth RM148mil from 15 housing projects on the island and mainland. 

Its chairman Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman said both the Penang Regional Development Authority (Perda) and JKP Sdn Bhd only recorded an average of RM1mil to RM2mil of profit annually since 15 years ago.

“The average profit earned is 10% and 7% respectively for Perda and JKP. The profits are for the purchase of new land,” he said in a statement yesterday. 

On Wednesday, state Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo claimed that the prices of each unit set by Perda and JKP were as high as RM575,000 on the mainland and RM1.85mil on the island.

Zainal Abidin said the percentage of units priced above RM500,000 was low compared to the number of low-cost homes. 

“From the 15 planning project applications comprising 9,444 units, 25.9% or 2,447 units are low-cost units offered between the price of RM35,000 and RM42,000 per unit. 

“About 48.1% are priced below RM250,000 on the mainland while 16.1% are priced below RM400,000 on the island. 

“The total per centage below the ceiling price of affordable homes comes to 64.21%,” he said.

Zainal Abidin added that the units offered above the ceiling price were “landed properties” and not apartment or multi-storey units as offered by the state government.

“Perda and JKP cannot choose to offer only affordable units as there are demands for bigger properties. 

“Both agencies are similar to Penang Development Corporation, which develops various levels of properties. 

“The state government approved the mixed development projects by PDC, and it is unjust if Perda and JKP are limited to provide affordable units only.”

Zainal Abidin claimed that both Perda and JKP had submitted a planning permission application for 15 housing projects, consisting of 12 on the mainland and three on the island but had yet to be approved by the state since 2012. - The Star