BN miscalculated costs for Penang Undersea Tunnel, says Guan Eng

GEORGE TOWN: The DAP-led state government has rebuked MCA and Gerakan for misleading the public about the proposed RM6.3 billion cross-channel undersea tunnel, saying in their haste to find fault; they had miscalculated the costs.
And to make matters worse, they continue to pursue the issue with a distorted version of the mega infrastructure project.
Two state executive councillors Lim Hock Seng (pix) and Chow Kon Yeow told a joint press conference here that the state has on numerous occasions reiterated that the amount paid to the (project delivery partner) Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd for works done for the feasibility study and detail design of the three major highways, is via the land alienation.
"It was also mentioned through various platforms that the land alienated was based on a net developed area, not a gross developed area as (state Gerakan chairperson) Teng Chang Yeow had assumed with his own costing of RM321 million," Lim said.
Chow said that DAP was 100% behind Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng on this matter, and news reports that he had given a "slap to Lim" over his answers to the queries over the project was largely false.
"In truth, state MCA chairperson (Datuk) Tan Teik Cheng should slap himself for misleading the people and trying to pit DAP against Lim."
Chow said that both Gerakan and MCA would likely fail to find fault with the project after the various clarifications done by the state.
Later, Lim spoke that the EIA report that he kept on mentioning was solely about the three highways, and not the undersea tunnel as the latter would only be constructed in 2027 period, hence there was no pressure to complete an EIA on it now.
In another development, state Gerakan Youth acting head Jason Loo urged the state government to make public the feasibility study and the EIA report for the proposed construction of the three paired highways here.
The people have a right to know what were the details in the report, Loo declared.
From what he was informed, Loo said that the project would have an impact on two forest reserve areas – namely in the Teluk Bahang and Bukit Gambir area.
"Why was the state keeping mum over the matter," he told a press conference.