The Penang Development Corporation (PDC) has come under fire for focusing on profitless commercial projects instead of building affordable houses to meet rising demands.

Penang DAP organising secretary Danny Law Heng Kiang criticised PDC for spending only RM12 million to build 1,700 housing units out of its targetted 9,100 units over the past eight years.

At the same time, PDC spent RM90 million to build commercial complexes and another RM28 million for industrial lots.

"Many commercial lots, such as at the Mayang Mall Complex, are still vacant," the opposition leader pointed out.

Apart from this, many houses have also not been sold such as 109 double-storey and 43 low-cost units in Batu Kawan, 72 low-cost units in Sungai Pinang and six low-cost units each in Sungai Nibong and Seberang Jaya.

"PDC's original objective was to build affordable houses for Penang residents. But, not only has it failed to achieve its goal, PDC had embarked on profitless commercial projects which had turned out to be white elephants," said Law.

PDC spent RM31 million between 1997 and 1999 to build the 99-unit four-storey Mayang Mall complex in Bayan Baru. However, after five years, only 10 percent of the commercial lots have been sold or rented out.

Another white elephant

Another of PDC's white elephant is the RM50 million Komtar building, which is the tallest in Penang. At present it only has a 21 percent occupancy rate, comprising mainly of government departments.

The 65-storey commercial-cum-office building could easily secure a place in the Guinness Book of Records for being the longest ever construction project, taking more than 20 years to build.

It was originally planned to be the commercial, transportation and administrative hub at the heart of George Town but this has not materialised.

The future looks 'more vacant' for the building as government departments would move to the state's new administrative capital Bayan Mutiara, which is currently in the planning stages.

PDC is also courting occupants for 78 vacant units in the Bukit Tengah, Bukit Minyak and Bayan Lepas industrial zones.

The corporation was established in 1969 to be the main development body to steer the state through its urbanisation and industrialisation policies.It is also the state's largest housing developer and real estate manager, building more than 15,000 houses in Penang over the past 35 years.

On top of its unprofitable commercial ventures, PDC is yet to recover RM26.32 million in arrears owed by its property tenants, in form of quit rents, house deposits, and rentals.

The annual Auditor-General's Reports in 2001 and 2002 forecasted that PDC would face severe financial crisis in the near future if its fails to recover the outstanding mone and channeled it to more profitable projects.

ATHI VEERANGGAN is malaysiakini's Penang-based stringer.