KUALA LUMPUR: The Penang state government, led by the DAP, has been selling state lands to supplement its income, Gerakan claimed today.
In making the statement, Gerakan secretary-general Datuk Liang Teck Meng condemned Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s actions as damaging to the state.
"You can easily find records going back over six or seven years (showing) that they have been selling state lands to sustain their income.
"This is not a good model. You should not keep selling state lands or forest reserves to commercialise it," he told a press conference at Gerakan headquarters here today.
The New Straits Times today reported that at least two forest reserves in Penang, one of which is more than a century old, have been encroached upon, which poses a serious threat to natural habitats.
Based on checks, both Bukit Relau and Bukit Penara permanent forest reserves have seen large tracts of land cleared for farmland and orchards.