Federal Govt asked to pay RM380m for land

JOHOR BARU: The price for scrapping the scenic bridge is going up. Yesterday, the State Government revealed that it had asked the Federal Government to pay RM380 million for a piece of land taken up to build an overhead bridge linking the Causeway and the new Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex.

The land measuring 16 hectares is in Bukit Chagar.

Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said the Federal Government had promised to swap its land at the old CIQ complex for the land in Bukit Chagar which belonged to the State. In addition, the State Government was to receive RM70 million.

"Now the bridge project is gone and a new road, cutting into the old CIQ at Tanjung Puteri, is being built to link the new CIQ and the Causeway.

"This means the State Government will not be getting the swapped land as promised.

"It is therefore natural for us to demand that the Federal Government pay for the land in Bukit Chagar," he said.

"We have informed the Federal Government and negotiations are under way."

Abdul Ghani was speaking to reporters outside the State Assembly Hall here yesterday.

Abdul Ghani added that former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had entered into negotiations for the Bukit Chagar land years ago. "I told him the market price of the land and he was shocked over the high land premium.

"As Bukit Chagar was a prime area, we agreed to a land-swap instead of a land acquisition.

"We have also reached a consensus that the Federal Government shall pay an additional RM70 million as premium for the land," he said.

Besides the RM380 million demanded by the State Government, Gerbang Perdana Sdn Bhd, the contractor for the scenic bridge, is also demanding RM100 million as compensation.