45 plots of land sold without open tender under Ku Nan, claim MPs

Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has sold 45 parcels of land without open tender since Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor became the Federal Territories minister, claimed opposition lawmakers.

Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai said he had obtained this information from parliamentary replies.

“This process is completely not transparent. So much land has been converted from public land to private land, and from being intended for residential use to commercial use.

“For this generation and the next generation, we are concerned that KL will have no more public land,” he told reporters after meeting KL mayor Mohd Amin Nordin Abdul Aziz at the DBKL headquarters this morning.

Tengku Adnan has been contacted for his response on this.

Tan said when the matter was raised during the meeting, Amin (photo) had maintained that the usual procedure was adhered to when selling the land.

Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, who also attended the meeting, said the mayor contended that the open tender process “sometimes is not a good thing”.

The mayor listed an example where, after DBKL sold a piece of prime land through open tender to the highest bidder, the buyer failed to develop the land due to unfavourable market conditions.

“So the mayor said if he had not sold it to the highest bidder and not through open tender, he could have sold it at a reasonable price.

“Then the developer could have sold (units from the development) at a more reasonable price to housebuyers. Then, everyone will be happy.

“He (Amin) said that sometimes, selling through open tender to the highest bidder is not a good thing,” added the DAP lawmaker.

Amin has been contacted to verify this.

However, Lim (photo) described Amin’s explanation as “nonsense”, arguing that DBKL could always set conditions that allowed it to re-acquire undeveloped plots after a certain timeframe.

No 'luxury ban' yet

The mayor had also explained that the cabinet's recent decision to declare a moratorium on luxury developments in the city had not yet been implemented.

“He said DBKL will make some suggestions and continue discussions with the Finance Ministry about this,” Lim said.

There was previously confusion over the government's decision to ban all on new shopping malls, offices and residential units priced above RM1 million when it was announced on Nov 19 by Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani following a Bank Negara quarterly report that warned of an oversupply of unaffordable houses in the property market.

Later, several ministers, including Tengku Adnan, disputed that it was a "blanket ban" and said appeals were possible. A five-member ministerial committee has since been set up to hear appeals from developers.

Meanwhile, PKR's Wangsa Maju MP Tan Kee Kwong (photo) said he had questioned Amin at the meeting on why many lawmakers were not consulted before Budget 2018 was announced.

“We are chosen by the people, we should be asked for our input on the budget for KL,” he told reporters at the same press conference.

In response, DBKL handed them a booklet with a breakdown of the 2018 budget totalling RM2,905,800,000.

Tan said while they had, in previous years, been invited to go through the budget for KL before the prime minister’s budget speech in Parliament, no invitation was received this year.

“This year was the worst. There was not even an invitation before it was announced. Most MPs have no idea about the details. We have the right to know how the government is using our money.

“If they don't do this (invite us to give our input), DBKL will appear as though it is hiding something,” he added.

Malaysiakini has been trying to contact Tengku Adnan and Amin for their responses on this matter.- Mkini