KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Tony Pua said today that Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan had twisted facts when he accused Penang of blocking Putrajaya’s efforts to build affordable homes in the state, claiming the federal projects the minister was referring to had involved properties costing up to RM1.8 million per unit.

The DAP federal lawmaker said this is likely the reason why Abdul Rahman, who is urban wellbeing, housing and local government minister, does not dare meet face-to-face with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to discuss his accusation.

“Is it because the Housing Minister is probably too afraid to meet because he actually knows the real truth of the matter, and he doesn’t want to end up like a miserable loser after meeting Lim Guan Eng,” Pua said in a statement here.

According to the Petaling Jaya Utara MP, federal agencies JKP Sdn Bhd and Penang Regional Housing Development Authority (PERDA) had their initial project applications rejected because they included the construction of homes costing RM1.8 million on Penang Island and RM800,000 on the mainland, which are well above the threshold of “affordable”.

The threshold for “affordable”, Pua pointed out, is RM400,000 on the island and RM250,000 on the mainland.

The lawmaker also claimed that the plans by the agencies had estimated that a profit of RM149 million would be made from the proposed projects.

“Why should these federal government agencies be making such huge profits at the expense of the rakyat?” he asked.

“Instead of the federal government fulfilling its promises and obligations to help fund the construction of affordable homes for Penangites, Penangites are instead forced to fund the coffers of the federal government,” he said.

Pua also suggested that profiting heavily from such projects would be a violation of the Land Acquisition Act, noting that 11 of the 15 pieces of development land owned by JKP and PERDA had been acquired by Putrajaya for “public interest” purposes.

Last week, Rahman challenged Lim to approve the 10,000 housing units proposed by federal government agencies that he said are awaiting planning permission from the state government.

“If he is really a caring chief minister, then show to me, prove it by signing the approvals for those projects before May 7, don’t give anymore excuses,” he said in a weekend ceramah.

The Kota Belud MP claimed the state refused to approve the units after raising question over why the projects included million-ringgit homes instead of only affordable units.

He said the Pakatan Rakyat state government has repeatedly criticised Putrajaya for failing to build affordable homes for the people in Penang, but yet delays or denies approval when federal agencies apply to do so.

Both JKP and Perda had applied for planning approvals of several projects all over the state totalling to about 10,000 units of housing.

The state had said the planning permission was not approved because the land involved was meant for low cost housing and luxury homes should not be built there.

The state had also requested both JKP and Perda to resubmit some of its applications for consideration.