GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government has agreed to transfer the heritage property at 50, Love Lane to the Penang Chinese Clan Council for a nominal premium payment of RM1.
In announcing this yesterday, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said this was on condition that the council must comply with the legal requirements.
“Let this be dealt by the lawyers and land office in accordance with the law,” he told reporters after visiting the Ng Fook Thong Cantonese Districts Association Temple in Chulia Street here.
According to records in the Land and Mines Office, a High Court decision on Jan 7, 1909, saw the appointment of a five-member board of trustees to oversee the property belonging to Eng Siew Kee Kongsi.
It was reported that the trustees have all died and a pile of unpaid property charges allowed the state government to seize it in 2014.
The last remaining trustee, however, approached the clan council in 2010 before he died and implored the clan council to take over the heritage property and restore it, according to council chairman Anthony Chang.
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