GEORGE TOWN: A “special purpose” company will be set up to buy the Taman Manggis land from the state government, said state Barisan Youth information chief H'ng Khoon Leng.

He said the company, Taman Manggis Phase Two Sdn Bhd, would be owned by six Barisan Nasional supporters comprising developers and technocrats from Penang and Kuala Lumpur.

“The company was specially set up to build low-cost housing units in Taman Manggis at the junction of Jalan Zainal Abidin-Lorong Selamat.

“The conditions of purchase are already in place, the funds are ready and lawyers have been appointed, so Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had better be ready to sell,” he said.

State Barisan Youth chief Oh Tong Keong said Lim seemed worried that Barisan would back out of the deal.

“Every day he keeps asking us when we are going to buy. Don't worry, we have every intention of doing so even though the offer letter from his political secretary Ng Wei Aik was improper, according to our lawyers.

“The so-called offer letter reads more like a political statement,” he said, adding that it did not even contain details that are important for such an offer, such as the lot number.

Ng handed the offer letter to a state Barisan representative on Thursday, which Oh later said was not in accordance with procedure and that the letter contained mistakes.

Oh said the company would issue an offer letter to the state government within the next 10 days to purchase the land.

State Umno Youth chief Shaik Hussein Mydin said Taman Manggis Phase Two was not out to make a profit but to give the poor a chance to live in the heart of town.

“In effect, Lim took land meant for the poor and is now selling it back to them for profit.

“He should have given the land for free so that we can build homes for the poor but it's okay, we will pay for it,” he said.

Shaik added that Lim had so far failed to produce the land valuation report to be scrutinised by the people.

Lim had earlier said that the land would be offered at RM450psf - bringing the total land cost to RM21,562,200 after Barisan expressed interest in buying the land.

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