GEORGE TOWN, July 7 — Putrajaya must continue allocating funds to prove its commitment to preserving the George Town world heritage site, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said.
The Penang lawmaker said the initial RM20 million allocated to George Town that was channeled through Think City has long "dried out".
"We hope the federal government will continue funding the heritage site by giving an additional RM20 million," he said in his speech at the launch of the George Town World Heritage Celebrations today.
He told Putrajaya that the Unesco world heritage inscription for Malacca and George Town should be viewed as an honour to the nation and not merely to Penang and Malacca.
He urged the federal government to put politics aside and think about preservation of heritage.
"We need to focus on heritage preservation and conservation so the funding is needed for this," he said.
Lim said the federal government had initially promised RM30 million when George Town was inscribed as a world heritage site but the funding was later reduced to RM20 million.
The RM20 million was channeled to the state through the George Town Grants Programme (GTGP) by Think City Sdn Bhd, a special purpose vehicle formed by Khazanah Nasional Berhad to implement and manage the programme.
The GTGP ended several years back but Think City continued to organise urban regeneration programmes together with stakeholders.
Lim said Putrajaya can also channel the additional funding through Think City as long as it was meant for George Town.
"I have no problems with them giving additional funding through Think City, we can work with them," he said.
