KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 — There is no problem with Putrajaya giving special exemptions for projects crucial to the country’s development and image, Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Eric See-To told the DAP today.

In a statement, the BN deputy director for strategic communications also questioned if DAP cared for the people’s well-being, or merely sought to safeguard the interests of real estate developers.

"What is the problem with DAP that national level icon projects crucial to our country’s development and image is not allowed some special treatment and should be stopped in favour of projects from private developers?” See-To said.

"Both TRX and Bandar Malaysia are long-term national-level icon projects spanning two decades. Both are supposed to drive economic activities, and provide tens of thousands of jobs for Malaysia.

"TRX is positioned as a regional financial services center. and is already well on its way to success with many confirmed projects in construction phase including the 106 floors Signature Tower while financial giants such as HSBC and Prudential has confirmed moving their regional headquarters there,” he added.

See-To criticised DAP’S Petaling Jaya Utara MP, Tony Pua, who had claimed that Putrajaya was protecting the interests of state investment arm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), following a federal minister’s claim yesterday that the Bandar Malaysia and Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) projects would not be affected by the freeze on luxury property developments.

Pua, an ardent critic of 1MDB, was quoted saying that the entity received "special treatment”, which he claimed discriminated against all private businesses affected by the recent luxury property development freeze.

News portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT) had yesterday quoted Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor as saying that the 1MDB-linked projects had already received approval "in principle” and development could not be stopped.

Second Finance Minister Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani was reported saying the government had halted temporarily the construction of shopping malls, commercial complexes and condominiums valued at RM1 million upwards built as of November 1.

The directive came after Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) raised concerns about the growing property overhang and supply-demand imbalances in the property market, which were highlighted in a report released on November 17.

The BNM report noted that the number of unsold residential properties had increased at an alarming rate since 2015. There were 130,690 unsold units at the end of March this year, with 83 per cent priced at above RM250,000.

Two days after Johari’s statement, Works Minister, Datuk Fadillah Yusof said the policy was not a blanket freeze and that approvals would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, prompting his Cabinet colleague to issue a clarification.

On Tuesday, Johari said the freeze would only affect projects that had not been approved, adding that the length of the freeze would depend on a continued assessment of the situation.

See-To today pointed out that Bandar Malaysia was where the terminus station for the High Speed Rail (HSR) project ended in Malaysia.

On the other end of the HSR line at Jurong East, Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Agency (URA) was already planning to develop the area surrounding the station into Singapore’s second Central Business District (CBD), he said.

"Malaysia plans to do the same around the Bandar Malaysia HSR station so that international travelers who take the train from the Singapore stations will also arrive at an impressive development that can rival what Singapore has in plan.

"Why does DAP want to deprive Malaysia of what Singapore is also doing?” he asked.