KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is fuming at Umno for preventing the complete reopening of Jalan Macalister in George Town, which was damaged when a lightning arrester from the party’s headquarters there crashed down during a storm last week.

Work is still being carried out outside Menara Umno there despite the local authority having patched up their end of the repairs.

The road is now accessible from Magazine Road junction until Madras Lane, but a 130m stretch in front of Menara Umno remains sealed off.

“Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) have completed their work on the road and it is ready to be opened,” Lim was quoted as saying by The Star on its website today.

“But Umno (JKP) is not done yet. We want to ensure safety of motorist.”

The Bagan member of parliament later added that a show cause notice will be sent to the building’s owner, JKP Sdn Bhd, over the holdup.

Acknowledging the delay, JKP noted that the major repairs were concluded and said it expected to completely reopen the cordoned-off portion today, “hopefully by afternoon”.

“We are just doing the cleaning up... only about 1 per cent of work left,” JKP chief operating officer Datuk Adzmi Ariffin was quoted as saying in the same report.

On June 13, Jahir Hussain Sulaiman, 46, succumbed to his injuries after falling concrete debris, caused by a structural failure at Menara Umno during a freak storm, crashed onto his lorry as the vehicle was passing by the building.

Hawker Lim Chin Aik, 44, had also been driving along the same road then when parts of a concrete beam from the building fell onto his car and crushed him into the ground.

The wreckage of his car, which was identified as his through the car chassis number, was recovered but his body was never found.

Penang yesterday formed a commission of inquiry to probe the mishap at Menara Umno as well as a collapse at the construction site of the Second Penang Bridge.