Penang undersea tunnel project cleared or not, asks MCA

(FMT) – MCA today urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to clarify the status of the RM6.3 billion undersea tunnel and three roads project following what it called conflicting statements by the anti-graft agency and Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.

MCA president Wee Ka Siong told FMT that on April 17, Chow had declared that the state government would continue with the project as those involved in it had been cleared by MACC.

Chow said MACC had sent two letters on Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (Zenith) and its senior executive director Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli, clearing them of any impropriety following a call by the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism for the project to be shelved pending investigations.

Just recently, though, MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Koya had said that details of active investigations could not be revealed, Wee said.

“So which is it? Has the case been closed or not?

“If it (the project) hasn’t been cleared, does that mean Chow lied?”

Construction of the project is scheduled to begin in 2023.

The three main roads (formerly three paired roads) will go from Air Itam to the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway (5.7km); Tanjung Bungah to Teluk Bahang (10.53km); and Jalan Pangkor-Gurney Drive junction to Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway (4.1km).

The 7.2km undersea tunnel, meanwhile, will connect George Town’s Pangkor Road and Bagan Ajam in Butterworth.

Wee also urged MACC to investigate how the project could have been given the green light when, according to Chow, the feasibility study was still incomplete as of last month.

“Yet two plots of land have been given to the developer as payment for completing the study, and buildings are being constructed.

“On the other hand, not a square inch of the three paired roads or the undersea tunnel project has been carried out so far. How is this so?”