GEORGE TOWN – The undersea tunnel project here remains “on” despite reservations from some quarters about the financial status of its project delivery partner (PDP) – the ECK Group of Companies Sdn Bhd – said state executive councillor Zairil Khir Johari.
Despite the construction giant’s woes with the Kedah government after it was removed from participating in a megaproject called the Kulim Aerotropolis due to its failure to pay a land acquisition deposit of RM2.1 billion, Zairil said there is no sign at present that a similar situation would also be faced by Penang.
The Aerotropolis project’s mainstay is Kulim International Airport, designed as a regional transhipment aviation cargo hub with ECK having signed an agreement last year to jointly develop the project with the state government.
“Our (tunnel) project remains on and we want the PDP to meet all the obligations and milestones we have set forth,” Zairil said in an interview.
The undersea tunnel’s initial PDP was Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd, but after it encountered several hiccups, including a concurrent court case involving allegations of corruption, the project was subsequently awarded to the ECK Group in 2020.
The mammoth project consists of a RM6.3 billion undersea linkage between Gurney Drive on the island and Bagan Ajam in Butterworth, covering 7.1km in length.
The package also involves the construction of three strategic highways – linking Gurney Drive with the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway, Air Itam with the same expressway and a hilly terrain highway connecting Tanjung Bungah with Teluk Bahang through the Batu Ferringhi tourism belt area.
Those highways, when completed, would significantly reduce the ever-worsening traffic congestion here through a better dispersal system, although the civil society umbrella body of Penang Forum had lobbied for better public transport rather than building roads.
Zairil urged people here not to buy into the speculations surrounding ECK.
The current stage of the project involves designs and land acquisition – starting with the construction of the Air Itam to Chong Eu Expressway.
Meanwhile, two civil society personalities, who preferred not to be named, said that the project may not commence – not because of objections from Penang Forum but rather due to whether it was still financially viable following the pandemic and signs that the major economies may be on the brink of a recession.
The forum had offered an alternative public transport plan for Penang which is cheaper.
“The project may not start simply because of the global financial constraints and the political uncertainties in the country. No business entity wants to invest when both the political and economic climate seem unsettling,” the personalities said.
ECK could not be reached for comment on this matter.
The construction company was also named previously as the master city developer of the DesaKu township in Kulim, which is owned by the MBI Group of Companies.
MBI’s founder Tedy Teow Wooi Huat, a Penang-born entrepreneur, is currently fighting extradition orders in Bangkok, Thailand where he was reportedly sought by the authorities in China and Malaysia over allegations of irregular financial transactions.
Teow rose to fame through a series of innovative financial schemes where the pioneering investors received quick returns from their investments.
The schemes were literally called by Penangites as “money-games.”
He is said to have a following of eager investors, who hailed from China, Thailand, Macau, Malaysia, and Indonesia, respectively.
MBI through several associates is also heavily invested in the hotels’ scene, having owned several properties including the one in Pulau Jerejak, which, during the height of the lockdowns in 2020, was forced to retrench several hospitality workers there.
In a related development, the public-listed developer Ivory Properties Group Bhd has made a filing to the Bursa Saham Kuala Lumpur to indicate that it has fallen into a Practice Note (PN) 17 status, which means that the company has encountered some financial setbacks.
Pursuant to this, the Penang-based Ivory plans to regularise its status to address the PN 17 conditions.
MBI used to be one of the major tenants in Ivory’s flagship project at the Penang Times Square which consists of apartments and commercial rows here. – The Vibes, July 30, 2022
