Explain land sale within 10 days

KUCHING: The DAP has given the Sarawak Government 10 days to explain the sale of 267.15 acres of land in Batu Kawah, Kuching, below the market value.

Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen said the state would lose more than RM400 million as a result of the sale.

“Some people would be making huge profits. This money could be better used to build thousands of low-cost houses, infrastructure and other amenities,” he said in a press statement today.

Chong, who is also Kuching MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman, said he had already written to the state secretary seeking clarification on the matter.

He said the state government sold the land for RM115 million when the market value was RM534 million.

“The state government had been shortchanged by RM419 million. The market value of the land in the area was about RM2 million per acre,” he said.

Chong said in another land alienation exercise, 269 acres of prime land in Kuching worth about RM400 million was sold at RM80 million to private individuals.