GEORGE TOWN, Oct 5 — The state government will submit a fresh application to upgrade Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) to city council status, said state executive councillor Jagdeep Singh Deo.
The local government, housing and town and country planning committee chairman said the state government applied for the city status before the general election, but this was rejected by the former Barisan Nasional government.
He said the previous government claimed that each state could not have more than one city council.
“We have checked and confirmed that there is no such restriction for any particular state to only have one council with a city status so I will speed up our fresh application to upgrade the municipal council to city council,” he said.
George Town gained city status in 2015 and the municipal council was upgraded to Penang Island City Council (MBPP).
There are only two councils in Penang, one for the island and the other for the mainland.
Jagdeep said MPSP already met all requirements to qualify for the upgrade.
He said he raised this issue during his meeting with Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin yesterday.
In the same meeting, Jagdeep said the federal government also confirmed its plans to build public housing projects (PPR) on two plots of land in Jelutong.
“The project, which will have about 1000 units, will take between two to three years to build,” he said in a press conference today.
He said Jelutong, in the island’s northeast district, was chosen due to high demand for housing in the district.
Jagdeep said the state government has also identified five plots of land in the state to build more PPR projects, adding that he will send a letter listing out the parcels to the Housing and Local Government Ministry.
“We will send a list of the lands to the ministry to look at the suitability the plots of lands for PPR projects,” he said.
