Guan Eng rubbishes blogger’s claim of free land to China
PUTRAJAYA: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has rubbished claims that China will be given 4,500 acres (1,821ha) of free land in Malaysia, as part of a trade-off for the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project cost reduction from RM65.5 billion to RM44 billion.
He said this in response to an allegation by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who claimed that ECRL’s lower price-tag was negotiated to include the land exchange, to be developed by China Communications Construction Company Ltd (CCCC).
Lim, who called the allegation fake news, said the matter was not discussed in the cabinet meeting.
“I do not think there is any truth in such an allegation because if we look at the contract (supplementary agreement) itself, anything additional needs to go through the cabinet.
“So far, we have not been told (about this)... What I want to say is that the 4,500 acres of land will not be given for free.”
He was speaking after the signing of the first-tier Industrial Collaboration Programme (ICP) agreement between the government and the Bombardier-Hartasuma Consortium (BHC) yesterday.
Raja Petra had alleged that Malaysia’s special envoy to China, Tun Daim Zainuddin, who negotiated the new ECRL deal, did not mention the full details of the new deal, claiming that 4,500 acres of land were supposed to be developed by state-owned agencies instead of CCCC.
Daim had previously slammed the original ECRL agreement for its “shady conception, lack of transparency, lack of integrity, hasty approval, its vague details, its hefty cost, and the absence of accountability to the rakyat”.
Asked about the government’s plan to convert 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s RM2.4 billion bonds held by Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) and Tabung Haji into equity stakes in the Bandar Malaysia project, Lim neither confirmed nor denied it.
Quoting sources, it was reported that the value of the 1MDB debt papers to be converted was about RM3 billion, which was being held by KWAP and Tabung Haji.
Following the conversion, KWAP and Tabung Haji would become the stakeholders of Bandar Malaysia.
The Bandar Malaysia project, which was abruptly shelved in May 2017, has been reinstated.
On April 19, the Prime Minister’s Office said the cabinet had decided that the project would have a significant impact on Malaysia’s economy and serve as a global hub to attract high-impact global finance, technology and entrepreneurial firms.
The project is expected to have a tremendous impact on urban development, drawing foreign direct investments and generating an expected gross development value of RM140 billion.
It will draw major international financial institutions, multinational corporations and Fortune 500 companies to set up their regional headquarters in Bandar Malaysia.
In addition, tech giants such as Alibaba and Huawei have expressed interest in establishing their information and communications technology centres here.