KUALA LUMPUR: DAP National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua today slammed Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Mustapa Mohamed for his statement that the government would receive the RM628 million Matrade Convention and Exhibition Centre for "free" and urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to investigate the project.

In a reply to a question in Parliament and to reporters later, Mustapa had said that "Matrade is not putting up a single cent. Otherwise we have to beg and steal and borrow from the government."

Mustapa added that Martrade would only need to pay for centre's maintenance, and they would own the building when it is completed in four years.

"The usually composed and competent minister fondly known as Tok Pa, must have had a moment of madness when saying the government will get Malaysia's largest convention and exhibition centre 'for free' from Naza TTDI, when the latter is being paid with 62.5 acres of prime land," Pua said in a statement today.

Mustapa had earlier replied in Parliament that the 62.5 acres of land given in exchange for the convention and exhibition centre was valued at RM197 million.

"The reply still leaves Malaysians completely flabbergasted as the minister expects us to believe that Naza TTDI, a private company belonging to the Naza Group which has milked billions from Approved Permits to import luxury cars via the Ministery of International Trade and Industy [Miti] is so charitable as to build a RM628 million convention and exhibition centre at the price of RM197 million.

"At RM197 million, it means the 62.5-acre piece of land is valued at only RM72 per square foot, which is unbelievably low for the prime land between Mont Kiara and Jalan Duta," Pua said.

Pua cited the opinion of a leading property consultant who said in a Nov 18 news report the value of the land, when converted to commercial use, was at between RM350 per square foot to RM500 per square foot.

"Hence, even taking the conservative estimate by experts of RM350 per square foot, this works out to a valuation of RM970 million for the land given to Naza TTDI, the government is in fact paying RM342 million more than the stated RM628 million cost of building the Matrade Convention and Exhibition Centre.

"And if we take the higher estimate of RM500 per square foot, then the government is in fact paying in excess of RM870 million. Under such circumstances, it would not be wrong to say that it is Naza TTDI that has received land from Miti 'for free'," the Petaling Jaya Utara member of parliament said.

Pua was also critical of Mustapa's response when asked why there had been no open-tender process for the project. The minister had replied it was because " they [Naza TTDI] were the first company to propose the project".

"Instead of reassuring the public, this reply has cemented the fact that the Barisan Nasional government is addicted to cronyism for the Naza Group had intimate links with Miti having received hundreds of thousands of APs."

Pua added that Najib must immediately conduct a probe into the irregularities surrounding the project and make immediate rectifications to ensure that the income for all its existing assets are maximised. The project also should be suspended pending the investigations, and the outcome must be disclosed publicly to ensure that the final decision of the government would be able to withstand scrutiny.