PPC’s leadership vacancy puts commission’s properties in the spotlight

KUALA LUMPUR (June 20): The recent political changes in Putrajaya has cast a spotlight on the properties owned by the Penang Port Commission (PPC).

Chairman Datuk Tan Teik Cheng announced last week he will step down on June 30 and this impending leadership vacancy will leave PPC in a “limbo” as there is still no sign of a replacement, according to a report by The Star.

Tan is also Penang MCA chairman.

According to a source who spoke to The Star, PPC owns many tracts of prime land in Penang which have been left idle for more than a decade.

With PPC board members who are political appointees also resigning, “the board now has no quorum to sit”.

“PPC’s day-to-day functions can be handled by the officers, but it needs the board to act on decisions,” the source told the English daily.

One of the properties owned by the PPC is an 8,401 sq m corner lot with a colonial mansion.

Located in Cantonment Road, it is being offered on a 3+3-year lease. The property is said to be worth at least RM13 million

According to the same report by The Star, PPC general manager Mohamad Puzi Mohamad Nazir said the Cantonment Road property is being offered as a residence.

Other plots owned by the PPC “such as a large abandoned clubhouse with a field and basketball court in Anson Road were also up for lease”.

Mohamad Puzi also told The Star the commission has acres of prime land in Batu Ferringhi, Butterworth and George Town.

Many of these properties have been left idle for years.

He also conceded to The Star that it was difficult to make decisions without board members and the chairman.

Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow was reported to have said yesterday that he “will wait for the letter from the Transport Ministry before recommending candidates”, adding that the choice is the preroga­tive of the ministry.