PM's residence: 3 days' rental could buy 1 low-cost house
An opposition lawmaker has questioned the need for the government to pay a whopping RM6 million a year for the rental and maintenance of the prime minister's official residence in Putrajaya.
(Liew Chin Tong)
"It's definitely a waste of taxpayers' money. It means we are paying more than RM16,000 a day," Liew Chin Tong of DAP told Malaysiakini.
"We can buy a low-cost house for needy people with three days' worth of rental for the residence," he said.
He noted that the government is also paying a huge sum for the deputy premier's official residence.
In a written parliamentary reply to Liew, Abdullah had revealed that the government forks out RM6 million a year for rental and maintenance works for his official residence, Seri Perdana.
According to the reply, RM4,149,000 is paid as rental to Putrajaya Holdings - the master developer of the federal administrative capital - while the remaining RM1,896,616 is for maintenance works.
The government also pays RM3.4 million (RM2,273,888 for rental and RM1,129,992 for maintenance) for Seri Satria, the deputy premier's official residence.
In total, this works out to about RM26,000 per day for both residences.
Liew, the Bukit Bendera MP said the prime minister and deputy prime minister do not need such "luxurious" residences at the expense of taxpayers, and that the sum can be channelled for better use.
"Look at No 10 Downing Street (the British prime minister's residence), it is just a humble building. Even the White House proper (US president's residence and office) is smaller than Seri Perdana, which is just a residence," he said.
The government is bound by an agreement with Putrajaya Holdings to pay the sum for 25 years, from the time the first occupant of Seri Perdana - then premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad (left) - moved into the complex in 1999.
'More being paid in rent'
Mahathir had said the Putrajaya project had been funded entirely by the private sector and that government money was not involved. He was fending off criticism over the development of the mega-project.
However Liew pointed out: "We are now paying close to RM1 billion to Putrajaya Holdings annually to rent all the government offices in Putrajaya, and the amount is increasing year by year since the government is occupying more offices."
According to Putrajaya Holdings' official website, its shareholders include Petronas via KLCC (Holdings) Sdn Bhd (64.41 percent); CIMB Group Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd (for and on behalf of Kumpulan Wang Amanah Negara, 20 percent); and Khazanah Nasional Bhd (15.59 percent).
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Do you smell a rotten rat???
1 comment:
There is no comparison between Official residence in Downing Street or white house with one in Putrajaya. Malaysians and BN government can afford to subsidize for the luxury living expenses of their honorable PM and DPM, they are make up of umnoputra, my friend! They belong to the highest class of citizen living in the country so far.
For DAP representative, it is a waste of taxpayer money; but for the majority of Malaysian, it is money well spend and the country can expect to spend indefinitely to keep the ruling elite happy.
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