‘Land to be offered to KLIDC if no payment’

GEORGE TOWN: Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the Taman Manggis land would be offered back to Kuala Lumpur International Dental Centre (KLIDC) if the state Barisan Nasional failed to complete payment.

He said this was because KLIDC had obtained the Health Ministry’s approval to build a specialist hospital on the 0.4ha plot.

As such, he said Barisan should pay the remaining RM22.183mil if it wanted the land.

Yesterday, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai revealed that the ministry had on Nov 7 approved the building of a specialist hospital.

State Barisan Youth chief Oh Tong Keong said the “improper” way in which the state government handled the deal had made them hesitant to pay.

“They (state government) must provide the sales and purchase (S&P) agreement for the land first,” he said.

Over the last five months, Taman Manggis has become a bone of contention between the Pakatan Rakyat state government and Barisan.

The issue began when Lim disclosed a ministry letter, dated Oct 22, 2010, that allegedly rejected KLIDC’s proposal to build a 150-bed hospital on the 0.45ha site.

This was disputed by Barisan which, in turn, alleged that the Taman Manggis area had been earmarked for low-cost housing.

After several rounds of verbal tussles on the open tender for the land and its value, the Penang Barisan Youth offered to buy the plot atRM450 per sq ft to build affordable housing.

The offer was accepted by the Penang Government but the deal ran into a hitch when questions were raised about the current ownership and status of the land.