GEORGE TOWN, June 23 — The Penang government has approved two PR1MA projects in the state but construction works have not begun at the sites, state executive councillor Jagdeep Singh Deo said today.

The housing development committee chairman accused the federal government of spreading lies that it is now constructing 16,569 units of PR1MA housing in Penang.

“This is not true at all. We approved two PR1MA projects but work on both projects have not commenced at all,” he said.

Jagdeep was referring to a booklet published by the Penang Federal Development office under the Prime Minister’s Department titled Inisiatif, peruntukan dan ikhtiar murni Kerajaan Persekutuan demi mensejahterakan rakyat Pulau Pinang — Pencapaian Tahun 2008 — 2017 (Federal Government initiatives, allocations and endeavours for the prosperity of Penang people — Achievements Year 2008 — 2017).

“If we look at page seven of the booklet for affordable housing, I wish to state the real facts instead of what was portrayed,” he said.

He said PR1MA had submitted four applications for planning approval for projects in Batu Ferringhi, Tasek Gelugor, Bukit Gelugor and Balik Pulau.

“We approved the projects for Bukit Gelugor and Batu Feringghi in October and November last year respectively,” he said.

Till today, Jagdeep said both projects have not commenced work so nothing was built as yet.

“As for the two other projects, we don’t want to reject projects by PR1MA as I welcome affordable housing for the people so we returned it to PR1MA to change the plans so that the projects comply with our housing guidelines before resubmitting the applications,” he said.

He said an example of a project that had flouted Penang’s housing guidelines was PR1MA’s application to build 29 blocks of 27-storied apartments in Balik Pulau, which violated the 16-storey limits set for the area.

“We want to continue to protect areas like Balik Pulau by ensuring that uncontrolled developments with high density are not allowed,” he said.

Jagdeep claimed the booklet to be full of lies and warned the public against believing the printed words within.