Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who heads the state land committee, said since taking over on March 8, the state government had cleared up backlogs for conversions and other land-related matters going back over six years.
“Those approvals pending before the land committee are now up-to-date, but there seems to be a delay at the land office, which has to liaise with the relevant departments for their technical reports before the applications can be submitted to the land committee.
“From next year, applications pending at the land office will be dealt with by the land committee if there are any unwarranted delays. We do not want any delays in matters related to land and from next year, approvals for land matters will be given within a month,” Lim said at a dialogue session with Penang industrialists on anti-recessionary measures.
At the dialogue, Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) northern branch chairman Datuk O K Lee suggested that the state government find a location for a new port that can accommodate mother vessels, as manufacturers were now forced to send their cargo via other ports.
At present, vessels with deep draught are unable to berth at Penang Port due to its lack of depth. A RM323 million allocation under the the Ninth Malaysia Plan to deepen the port was scrapped by the federal government.
Lim said a suitable site for a port had been identified but there was no funding the project. “Approval for such projects is also under the purview of the federal government and this is hampering our efforts,” he said.
Earlier, Lim told the 80-odd participants comprising captains of industry that the state government was willing to work with the business community to urge a widening of anti-recessionary measures by the federal government.
These include implementing a RM48 billon fiscal stimulus plan, reducing wasteful spending on non-essentials and removing red-tape to increase revenue, cutting down costs and improving productivity.
He said the federal government should make more spending cuts and evaluate whether the RM7 billion package announced recently was sufficient to stimulate the economy.
“The Penang state government has already implemented cuts by cancelling the purchase of new cars, flying economy class on investment missions, holding government functions in government buildings and deferring all renovation works.
“Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had praised China’s US$586 billion (RM2.1 trillion) fiscal stimulus plan on housing and infrastructure projects to sustain its economy and create jobs for its people as a positive move that will help Malaysia avoid a recession.
“Najib should not rely only on China’s US$586 billion fiscal stimulus plan but critically evaluate whether his own US$2 billion fiscal stimulus plan is sufficient,” Lim added.
He called for a RM48 billion economic stimulus to put Malaysia back on track to becoming a developed nation by 2020. The plan should be based on four key thrusts:
• RM6,000 annual oil bonus to all families earning less than RM6,000 a month or RM3,000 annual bonus to bachelors earning less than RM3,000 a month;
• Progressive reduction of corporate tax rate from the present 25% to 17% which will cost RM 13 billion;
• Daily revision of petrol prices to take into account of changes in the international price of oil; and
• Immediate reduction in electricity tariff, which was increased by 26% for businesses when the price of oil was US$124 per barrel, to reflect the drop to less than US$60 per barrel.
“The Penang state government has also carried out its own expansionary budget with a RM39.4 million budget deficit for 2009, as compared with RM35.7 million previously. The 2009 development expenditure of RM186 million rose by RM23.5 million from the 2008 budget.
“Two big development projects with federal government funding have been revived — the RM4.3 billion Penang Second Bridge, which commenced work on Nov 8, and the RM955 million Mengkuang Dam project, which will start work next year,” he added.
He said Penang had also undertaken two social programmes of RM25.5 million to help the local economy and the poor by granting aid to partially aided and independent schools of RM8.5 million and RM17 million one-off payment of RM100 to 170,000 low- and middle-income earners affected by the recession.
He said Penang was also prepared to set up a job retraining scheme to look beyond the recession and hoped for the federal government to approve a RM500 million job retraining scheme over two years.
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