Penang Gerakan vice-chairman Wong Mun Hoe wants the state government as well as Pantai Jerejak state assemblyman Sim Tze Tsin to stop passing the buck of responsibilities over the Boustead reclamation issue.

Wong said state government started and completed all the negotiations with Boustead Holdings over the land reclamation project.

“It is wrong of Sim to put the blame on the previous state government. The entre negotiation process started after the 2008 general elections and did not involve anyone from the previous state government,” said Wong at a press conference in front of Gold Coast Condominium today.

He said it was the present state government which chose the site and made the offer to Boustead to reclaim the 100 acres of land.

Wong claimed that Sim is not sincere in making his “strong objection” now. “From his press statement, he was already in the know of such an arrangement when the issue was brought up at the State Assembly in May 2011.”

“As such Sim would have known the grave implications. It is a joke that after 18 months after his speech in the Assembly, he is now starting to urge Boustead to put the rakyat and the Penang Heritage status first before financial profits,” Wong questioned.

Wong said Sim should have championed the cause from the start by engaging the residents associations, the residents and the government and not now when the rice had become porridge.

He said Penangites were being treated to yet another sandiwara, another show time, when the state government would only review anything when forced to do so.

Wong said the state government had handled the issue inefficiently, with no accountability and total lack of transparency.

The land reclamation project has drawn protests from residents of Gold Coast, Putra Place, Putra Marine, Bay Avenue and Villa Mas who want the project o be scrapped and the seafront in the Bayan Bay area to be spared of any future land reclamation projects.

Bayan Bay Residents’s Association Action Committee chairperson Sharifah Hamidah said the residents were not against development but were more concerned about the quality of life.

“We want people to have access to the seafront from Putra Marine Resort until Queensbay Mall and we hope that it will be spared of any reclamation projects,” she told a press conference at the Gold Coast Resort lobby on Sunday.

by Editorial Desk
gerakan4u.com