Concerns over plots excluded from recovery list

Four lawmakers demanded explanations for the 16 idle land plots that have been excluded from the government’s recovery list during Friday’s AL plenary session.
Lei Cheng I urged the authorities to publicize all documents dating back to the land concessions of 2008, particularly those written in Portuguese before the city’s handover, as the relevant information is usually inaccessible to the public.
Pereira Coutinho suggested that the government should set up a website where information on the budgets for different land concessions and related information could be published. Only then, he believes, will the authorities improve on “accountability” and “transparency.” According to his suggestions, citizens could be allowed to access the information they are interested in and thus oversee the government’s handling of land allocation.
Another lawmaker, Leong Veng Chai, slammed the administration for deliberately withholding its move to relinquish the swathes of land. He also blasted the government’s failure to penalize the officials responsible for the failed revocation of the concessions.
Later, Ng Kuok Cheong once again called for explanations from Lau Si Io and Secretary Raimundo do Rosário, as well as the former head of the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau Jaime Carion, and the current one, Li Canfeng. He urged the government to come clean on the matter, as he suspected a transfer of interest between the authorities and the land developers. Staff reporter