Got-meh? Yes, RM3.05 per square foot for 126.04 acres of prime land on Batu Kawan on the mainland within 4km of the landing site of the second Penang bridge.
Don’t believe it? Check this announcement by Equine Capital Berhad on the Bursa Malaysia website here. Look at item 2.5, which says “RM3.05 per sq ft” and “No valuation was carried out on the land”.
That’s a purchase price of RM16.75m for PDC land (with 24 months payment terms) for a project with gross development value of RM293m.
This is the third of five parcels totalling 450 acres under a Principal Agreement between the Penang Development Corporation and Abad Naluri Sdn Bhd (a former 25 per cent related company of Equine) on 16 January 2004. The parcel is now to be transferred to wholly owned Equine subsidiary, Penaga Pesona Sdn Bhd.
Incidentally, from what I understand, the market value of Batu Kawan land today ranges from roughly RM15 to just over RM20 per square foot.
We need some answers here from the PDC and the Penang state government (heads of past and present administrations) about the Principal Agreement of 2004.
If you remember Abad Naluri was involved in the controversial and now aborted Penang Global City Centre project (linked to Patrick Lim) with the Turf Club and it was supposed to build an alternative 300-acre race-track in Batu Kawan.
Some questions for the PDC/Penang state government (past and present):
- How was so much prime land on the mainland next to the site of the Second Penang Bridge awarded at such bargain prices to an obscure firm? Who were the real parties behind it?
- Why was no valuation done for this particular parcel (as stated in the announcement)?
- Has the Principal Agreement in 2004 lapsed or is it still valid? What were the precise terms?
- Was the Principal Agreement for 450 acres or 750 acres (including the equestrian centre)?
As a matter of public interest, the Principal Agreement should be made public. There’s probably more to it than meets the eye.
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Principal agreement already signed.
Basically once committed, PDC has little choice but to follow it through to avoid payment of compensation unless that agreement is abrogated by mutual consent.
What a blessing for Penang in the case of PGCC as no approval was given to the developer by MPPP before Mar. 2008.
We don’t know whether the PDC had little choice unless we know the precise terms of the agreement and whether all the terms had been fulfilled on time. So that is why the agreement must be made public.
And what happened to the findings of the committee of inquiry set up by the state government to look into all these land deals?
something fishy along the line of Port Klang fiasco ?
Bertanya Gherkin K. Dia harus tahu.
Why don’t you take a group of media people and ask for it directly? Take the initiative..
Remind me of the song maneater … better watch out rakyat else we all will be consumed by … gang looters.
What do you expect from BN ????? Review the S&P, still valid?
Before Langkawi or Sepang were developed, guess who bought land there at dirt cheap price? Apanama?
Already got precedence lah! Nothing new.
With a stroke of policy change or project annoucement, a waste land can suddently become a prime land by our politician. You can curse yourself why you did not invest in it early, or blame yourself the lack of political connection.
Siapa perlu bertanggungjawap sekarang ??? Err, perlu tanggungjawap ke jika harga tanah meningkat pada masa depan ???
This will continue to happen if we continue to vote in UMNO and their weaklings from MIC, MCA and Gerakan. These weaklings will continue to be subservient to UMNO and sooner or later we shall be in the rank of Zimbabwe and Myanmar. 53 years ago, we have twice the per capital income of Korea and Singapore. Now we are several times behind time. 53 years ago, the per capital of Thailand, Philippine and Indonesia are several time below us, now they are on par if not better than us. The only recourse now is to CHANGE and kick out… Read more »
Anil,
The Only recourse is CHANGE!!!
In Only 3 years, this is happening!!!
Vote For CHANGE in GE13!!!!
Pakatan used to tell used how dumb BN is to sell RM50 worth of land for RM20. Now Pakatan race to outdumb BN’s stupidity. In the end, we all lose. Might as well sit at home and refuse to vote
Need Freedom of Information act to expose all this…
I want…then sell to Gherkin K for bargain price of 250 million. The 24 installment payments need to be extended further, say RM100 a month?
… Only when Barang Naik Siok Siok today, this is definitely, comparatively surprising.