‘LIM DID NOT UNDERSTAND CONTRACT DETAILS’
No compensation required by CZBUCG if project is cancelled, says Teng
PENANG Barisan Nasional has chided Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for saying that the developer of the undersea tunnel would have to be compensated if the RM6.3 billion project is scrapped.
State BN chairman Teng Chang Yeow said Lim’s statement was against the announcement made by Consortium Zenith Beijing Urban Construction Group (CZBUCG) on June 15, 2016 that there was no compensation clause mentioned.
He said Lim did not understand details of the contract signed and lacked knowledge on the mandate given by the people.
Teng said a statement by CZBUCG chairman Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, which was published in the media previously, indicated that no compensation was required if the project was cancelled.
“Moreover, no work has been carried out until now, except for some studies,” he said here yesterday.
In June 2016, CZBUCG, in a statement that was widely reported by the media, had said that it could claim for works that were completed, although there was no compensation clause mentioned by the state government in the agreement for the project.
The 7.2km undersea tunnel project is expected to connect Gurney Drive here and Bagan Ajam on the mainland. Construction is expected to begin in 2023.
The project raised numerous controversies in recent months, especially on the RM305 million feasibility studies and the more than 22-month delay in completing them.
The feasibility studies are now a subject of investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Penang BN, in its manifesto, had said that it would axe the project if it came into power.
On another matter, Teng slammed Lim for claiming that BN had no specific plan for the state’s public transportation system.
Instead, he said, it was the DAPled Penang government which did not have proper planning and had relied on the Penang Structural Plan, which was drafted by the previous BN administration.
“I think he (Lim) needs to relook at the implementation of the Rapid Penang bus system, which was launched by former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on July 31, 2007. It proved that BN had started the state’s public transportation system.
“My question to him is what happened to the Penang Paradigm plan, which he launched in February 2013?”
Penang Paradigm is the state government-initiated 10-year development plan to make Penang the top state in Malaysia by 2023.