Chow's comments on Forest City 'irresponsible, unnecessary ' slams Johor MB

SHAH ALAM - Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi has criticised Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow for calling the Forest City project a failed development.

Onn Hafiz said Chow's statement about Penang South Islands (PSI) project would not end up a failure like Forest City was highly "irresponsible, unnecessary and inappropriate."

He argued that Forest City did not fail but sufferred many external challenges that were out of the developer's control, such as national policy ecosystem, US-China tensions and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Onn Hafiz said said Malaysia MySecond Home programme being put on hold by the government, aside to the project being postponed and eventually cancelled by successive federal governments, had stunt the project's success.

He also highlighted the announcement by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that foreigners would not be issued visas for buying properties in Forest City.

Despite the past challenges, Onn Hafiz said there has been an interest as seen after Johor received the highest foreign direct investment inflows last year.

He said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim saw the project's potential and due to that announced a special financial zone in Iskandar Malaysia, offering competitive incentive packages to attract international investors and skilled workers.

In contrast, Chow announced that the PSI project has obtained its EIA approval from the Putrajaya Department of Environment, subject to 71 conditions that must be met. Onn Hafiz urged Chow to focus on meeting these conditions rather than making comments about the Forest City project.

"I understand that PSI has generated a lot controversy. But Chow's comments are not in the spirit of cooperation that Malaysia Madani encourages." he said.