The Penang Port Commission (PPC) has been challenged to hand over the Tanjung City Marina project, which is allegedly poorly managed, to the state government.

NONE Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (left in photo) said the state is willing to take on the task of improving the management of the marina.

The challenge appears double-edged because the PPC board is chaired by MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek, although he seems to have left state Wanita chief Tan Cheng Liang to do battle with Lim.

“The PPC will no longer have to waste any money managing it,” Lim said after visiting the marina with reporters at noon today.

“This project is a total failure. It ... gives a bad impression of the state to tourists who visit the place. It used to be nice before, but now you can see ... that it is empty. The building looks like it is floating to nowhere, maybe to Sabah.

“We (issued) a certificate of fitness but the project has failed due to poor management. The PPC cannot blame anyone, they must be accountable for its failure.”

The RM44 million project - part of a RM210 million exercise to rehabilitate the George Town waterfront - “has been abandoned, with no activities for the past year”, claimed Lim, who is also the DAP secretary-general.

NONE He also told Tan (right) not to divert attention from the issue, following the latter’s request for the state to hand over the title deed to the land on which Swettenham Pier is situated, so that the PPC can properly manage the cruise terminal located there.

Yesterday Tan had accused Lim of “killing the goose that lays the golden egg”, as the terminal has been churning out economic returns for the state with revenue of about RM300 million from 1.2 million passengers.

‘Different issues’

However, Lim rejected the request , saying he does not wish to be proven correct in years to come, that the pier will end up in the same boat as the marina.

“The PPC now tries to divert attention from the marina to the pier not getting an occupancy certificate (OC), but these are two different issues,” said Lim.

“It is better that we (retain) the land title, so that we can give our input on how to manage the pier properly. The state has already noticed signs of the pier being poorly managed as well.”

On claims that the PPC cannot manage the pier properly as it does not own the land title, Lim said this is “unfair” because it is the commission that asked for a temporary OC, a six-monthly lease, which expires in January.

“I do not know what to say. It is the PPC which applied for a temporary OC,” he said.

azlan Lim showed reporters formal letters stating why the PPC has been unable to obtain a permanent OC - one reason is that it owes RM871,700 to national sewerage company Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd.

In a letter dated June 22, 2010, the PPC stated that it needs a temporary OC as it has yet to resolve the issue of land ownership with the Land Office.

In a Nov 30 letter, the PPC attached a cheque of RM720.40 to the Town and Rural Planning Department to extend the temporary OC, so that the pier can continue to operate.