I would like to ask the person who always had the propensity to tell lies, a few questions. That person in Lim Guan Eng.
In his statement lambasting Umno and Utusan Malaysia today (which can be read here), he mentioned that his Pulau Pinang has allocated RM500 million to build affordable houses (rumah mampu milik) for the people.
The whole of that article is to justify why Lim Guan Eng didn’t use any money from the Akaun Amanah Perumahan Bumiputera amounting to RM33.6 million to build affordable houses. This was reported in the AG Report 2011 where monies from this account was left unused. As the result, DAP was rebuked by Umno Pulau Pinang for reneging on their responsibilities to build affordable housing for the bumiputeras there.
One of the paragraphs Lim Guan Eng said:
Sungguhpun adalah tanggungjawab kerajaan pusat untuk membina rumah mampu milik, kerajaan negeri PR Pulau Pinang telah mencatatkan rekod yang tidak pernah dilakukan dengan memperuntukkan RM 500 juta untuk membina rumah mampu milik di seluruh negeri Pulau Pinang, termasuk di kawasan pulau. Usaha mengumpulkan wang RM500 juta bukanlah mudah dan perlu 4 tahun untuk mencapainya. RM500 juta hanya cukup untuk membina 18,000 yunit rumah mampu milik kepada semua rakyat pada 5 tahun yang akan datang.
So the story is:
a) RM500million has been allocated by the state to build 18,000 units for the next 5 years
b) As the result, each house costs about RM27,778. One wonders how could he build an affordable home for less than RM30,000.
Anyway, in order to tell the public why the money wasn’t used to build the homes, the manipulative Lim Guan Eng gave the excuse that it takes more than RM33.6 million to build 350 units.
Lagipun wang akaun amanah tidak mencukupi kerana untuk membina 350 yunit rumah kos sederhana rendah, kos pembinaan tanpa kira kos tanah menjangkau RM35 juta.
If to build an affordable home costs only RM27,778 then for 350 units, it will only cost RM9.7 million in total.
Is he saying that to build affordable homes, even without the cost of land, it requires RM100,000 for each unit?! (RM35 million divide by 350 = RM100,000)
What kind of mathematical stunt is he trying to do?
Truth be told that in AG Report 2010, it was discovered that Lim Guan Eng did not even build a single unit of low cost house since he took over the state in 2008!
Lim Guan Eng wants us to empathise with him that RM500 million was very difficult to obtain and it took him 4 years to get that amount. But this is another lie that he tries to sell.
If we look at the AG Report 2011, there was no allocation provided at all. There is no money in the coffers exist to actually finance this venture. 18,000 units of affordable housing would have been made from thin air.
In AG Report 2011, the development with this magnitude would have come under Rancangan Malaysia ke10 (RMK10) which started in 2011 and for the period of 5 years. But as can be seen in the report, no such allocation were made to build affordable housing for the next 5 years.
From the report:
Rancangan Malaysia Kesepuluh (RMKe-10) Negeri Pulau Pinang untuk tempoh 5 tahun bermula pada tahun 2011. Rancangan ini digubal bagi menjelaskan strategi, program dan projek yang akan diperkenal dan dilaksanakan untuk mencapai objektif pembangunan Pulau Pinang iaitu untuk mencapai pembangunan mampan dengan jaminan bahawa rakyatnya dapat menikmati urus tadbir yang baik, kualiti hidup yang tinggi dan tahap keperkasaan yang tinggi. Ia adalah signifikan ke arah menggerakkan Negeri Pulau Pinang mencapai status negeri maju pada tahun 2020.
Jumlah siling peruntukan bagi RMKe-10 adalah RM810.29 juta dengan 2,489 projek yang dirancang untuk dilaksanakan tidak termasuk bilangan projek bagi Jabatan Hal Ehwal Agama Islam.
Here is the table:
All this money for RMK10 have been approved in 2011 where as the allocation of RM500 million was only announced in March 2012 after the revelation that Lim Guan Eng never built any low cost housing surfaced.
In fact reading the 2011 AG Report, most of the projects (98%) have started in 2011 and will complete before 2015 while there is no mention of development of affordable housing in the list of projects provided.
We all know that any extra projects beyond what is agreed in RMK10 must get approval from the EPU. Is Lim Guan Eng embarking on a mega project development without seeking approval from federal government? Where is he going to put all this 18,000 units property? The amount of land to be provided would be huge!
Secondly, does Lim Guan Eng have this kind of money? From the financial standing of 2011, there is no indication that he has it. Let alone accumulated for the past 4 years.
There is no evidence that RM500 million have been saved since 2008 as what he said earlier – “Usaha mengumpulkan wang RM500 juta bukanlah mudah dan perlu 4 tahun untuk mencapainya”.
Who is he trying to lie again? He must got all the money via quit rent he collected from Ambiga’s phantom voters.
Nevertheless, I am sure the DAP supporters will give him the benefit of the doubt that he actually did collect enough money to top up the shortages after the 2011 accounts was closed. From 1 January 2012 till March 2012 (the month where he made the announcement of that RM500 million allocation), RM500 million was probably collected.
This can only be shown in the 2012 year end accounts. Hopefully, Lim Guan Eng can shed a few things now, rather than when the 2012 AG Report comes out next year.
By the way, the rest of his press statement were excuses and finger pointing back to Umno and calling them racist.
If you feel Lim Guan Eng is God’s gift to mankind, you will not like reading this.