ALOR STAR: Kedah government is not involved in the Finance Ministry's (MoF) decision to list the Kampung Tok Senik Resort in Langkawi for auction after allegedly bleeding RM250 million in losses.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said his administration was not aware of the decision and only learnt of the matter from news reports.
Sanusi said it was possible that the project was developed by a private company on land belonging to Langkawi Development Authority (Lada) before it went into the red.
"I don't have the information for now (on the decision to auction), the state government has nothing to do with it.
"Probably it was undertaken by a private company, since Lada does not develop a project as it only manages matters pertaining to land.
"I will get details on this matter first," he said in a press conference at Wisma Darulaman here today.
Sanusi, who is also Lada co-chairman acknowledged that many MoF projects in Langkawi are facing problems and the state government has embarked on an amnesty programme to resolve the issue.
He said many projects, including the St Regis Langkawi Hotel, have land issues.
"After I was appointed as the Lada co-chairman, we discovered that there are projects that were built without a proper land title, including those developed on river reserve land.
"Thus, we have to carry out an amnesty initiative to award the land titles. Only then, is the government able to inject allocation for restoration work.
"Without land title, projects worth hundreds of millions of ringgit may get abandoned. There were many projects (previously developed) and we are resolving the issue, those that are suitable to be awarded with land title and apply for restoration allocation," he said.
Sanusi hoped that the ministry would shed more light on the move to list the Kampung Tok Senik Resort for auction.
Yesterday, a member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Sim Tze Tzin was reported as saying that the resort is being auctioned by the MoF after allegedly suffering a huge loss of RM250 million.
Sim, who is also a Bayan baru member of parliament, revealed this on X mobile application posting after inspecting the resort with other committee members yesterday.
The Auditor General's Report 2022 previously revealed that Lada had failed to collect RM8.30 million from the resort lease since 2003.
It was reported that the PAC then submitted five recommendations in March to MOF and Lada to resolve the lease issue involving the resort as well as St Regis Langkawi Hotel.