Penang govt gave assurance to get approval for private hospital - Teng

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Barisan Nasional chairman Teng Chang Yeow has claimed that the 0.4ha plot in Jalan Zainal Abidin here was sold by the present state government with a guarantee to obtain approval to operate a private hospital from the Health Ministry.

 “Otherwise, the state government should explain why it has to refund the compa- ny RM10mil for cancelling the project when it failed to obtain a licence from the ministry. “Everywhere in the country where land has been sold, the risk is with the buyer to obtain all the necessary approval.

 “However, in this particular transaction, the Penang state government seems to have borne the risk as the seller,” he said. Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng was reported as saying last week that the state was readying itself to return a RM10mil premium to a private company for a fallen-through investment in Jalan Zainal Abidin. He said the Health Ministry had stated in a letter in October 2010 that it could not entertain Kuala Lumpur International Dental Centre's proposal to build a 150-bed hospital on the site. Lim also said the proposal by the com-pany was rejected by the Penang Munici- pal Council (MPPP) earlier this year as it could not secure a licence from the minis-try.

 State Local Government and Traffic Management Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said last week that the initial proposal for the medical centre consisted of two levels of basement parking, three levels of podium parking, six stories for a medical centre and 19 stories for a hotel to accommodate patients and their fami-lies.

 Teng said the contentious issue was not the licence to operate a private hospital on the plot but why a piece of land for low-cost housing had been sold to build a private hospital with a 19-storey hotel. State Health, Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said the state government had never guaranteed the company that it would obtain approval to operate a private hospital. “It is Teng's imagination. We never gave them any guarantee,” he said