IPOH: The state government has been urged to sell the Movie Animation Park Studios (MAPS) in an effort to cut losses and to reduce the state’s financial burden, Aulong assemblyman Nga Kor Ming said.
Nga, who is also Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker, suggested that MAPS, Asia’s first animation theme park, should be sold at an open tender.
“The project which was built by the previous state government has suffered losses amounting RM474 million, even the official opening of the theme park has not been done yet.
“It is not the state government’s role to manage the theme park. There is no time to do so and we don’t even have the expertise to run it,” he said at a press conference at the state legislative assembly in Bangunan Perak Darul Ridzuan here today.
Nga said the previous state government expected a total of two million visitors yearly but since the opening of the theme park, only 120,000 visitors were recorded per year.
Built on 20.8ha of land, the theme park was originally slated to begin operations in October 2016 but for unspecified reasons, the opening was postponed to December and pushed back again to last year.
Nga said the state government must come out with a feasibility study and forensic audit report should they consider to sell it and this matter must be discussed thoroughly.
“I appreciate all the effort that the current state government has been doing in order to save the theme park including offering various package and discounts.
“If we do not cut losses now, we will suffer a greater loss later. But if we give it to private sectors who have the expertise to run the theme park, they will bring in profits since they have expertise. For example, Sunway Lagoon, Tambun Lost World and Genting Theme Park, they are in line with this business and they know how to do it,” he said.
Nga stressed that this was not the state government responsibility and the Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had repeatedly said that the government should not involve in business.
“PKNP (Perak State Development Corporation) owns the land and if they follow the original plan, just lease the 50 acres to the private sector, today they will be in a comfortable place and they just have to collect the monthly rent. They do not have to be worried either get visitors or not,” he said.