Chow attempts to clarify controversy surrounding tunnel project

GEORGE TOWN: The state government has been forced to clarify the controversy surrounding the proposed RM6.3 billion cross-channel undersea tunnel project on a daily basis.
Penang DAP chairperson Chow Kon Yeow said that in order to clear the air of attempts to portray the DAP-led state government as incompetent, the state hs been forced to hold daily briefings pertaining to the project.
Both Chow, who is senior state executive councillor in charge of Local Government and Traffic Management, and fellow executive councillor Lim Hock Seng have taken the lead in clarifying the issue for the last 72 hours.
On the latest salvo, Chow said that he has answered five out of the eight queries posed by Barisan Nasional (BN) through the Mandarin vernacular newspapers.
"I think there is no need to keep on repeating myself. BN should read the documents first before attacking us with baseless claims in an attempt to smear our good name."
Chow also touched on the claim that the BN-state government in Penang had only paid the developer of the Jelutong Expressway (now called the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway) after the latter had completed the project, adding that this was not true.
After studying the agreement, Chow said that firstly the expressway took 18 years to be fully completed and along the way, the state did make progress payments in terms of allowing the developer to reclaim land and to alienate state land to them.
The plots opposite the expressway where the Tesco hypermarket, the Bayswater condominium, the Udini Square Office Complex and the IGM state corporate headquarters are located, were also handed over to the developer of the expressway in stages.
"We call it progressive payments. After the contractor meets the schedule of the project, they are entitled to seek payments. I suggest that BN do their homework before making such ridiculous claims," Chow said after attending a press conference on the state Lunar New Year celebrations at the E&O Hotel's heritage wing.
The developer had also constructed the Desa Pinang housing area and built a surau and other social amenities on the plots they had reclaimed for constructing the expressway, which snakes from George Town towards Batu Uban and Bayan Lepas.
Something was eerily familiar with the arrangement, said Chow. The financial model adopted for the expressway by the BN government was almost similar to the one mooted for the undersea tunnel and the three paired highway roads, which are supposed to link Gurney Drive and Air Itam as well as Batu Ferringhi.
Later, Hock Seng said he hoped that the multiple clarifications would put the issue to rest, saying that the state had been transparent.
He said all the alleged wrongdoings were part of the report made available under the public accounts committee (PAC). It was formed at the state legislative assembly level to study the mega project.
"They (Opposition) have the same report like we (the state) do," he added.