The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should look into the transfer of 19 land plots from Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan (YWP) that was carried out by the previous administration, according to Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng in a report by The Edge.
Based on data from the capital’s Land Office, these properties have a combined area of more than 30.2 acres, with sizes ranging from 236 sq m (0.06 acres) to 48,610 sq m (12.01 acres).
All are prime land in Kuala Lumpur and includes a site within Taman Rimba Kiara. They’re tenure is either leasehold or freehold, while their zoning is a mix of commercial, residential or mixed-use.
Given that some of these plots are currently being sold to another party, Lim wants Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad to halt the transactions and lodge caveats so that these pieces of land can’t be officially sold, causing detriment to the government and locals.
Lim highlighted that YWP’s mandate is to protect the welfare of Bumis, and its funding should come from the Federal Government and not from the sale of precious land in Kuala Lumpur.
“It’s abnormal for a government agency to hold this amount of land and sell them off to the private sector without (undergoing an) open tender process,” he told reporters on Thursday (23 Aug).
These include nine sites that were transferred to YWP during the term of former FT minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, who is also one of the trustees of the foundation.
“The previous 64 dubious land deals which have been reported to MACC, together with these 19 plots [brings the total to 83 plots], which means during Tengku Adnan’s administration, he has on average, sold one plot every month during his five years at the FT Ministry,” he noted.
Lim pointed out that even if the land parcels were divested at below market price so that it can be used for low-cost housing, the previous administration should have conducted open tenders to ensure the government gets the best price and for the sake of transparency.
“The unfair part is why only one company owns so many plots and why some of the land were sold to non-property development companies?”
Image sourced from MalaysianChineseNews.com
This article was edited by the editorial team of PropertyGuru. To contact them about this or other stories email editorialteam@propertyguru.com.my
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