Government owes Putrajaya Holdings RM75m rent

THE Government owes RM75mil in backlog rent to Putrajaya Holdings Bhd for office lots at the federal administrative capital. 

Finance Ministry parliamentary secretary Datuk Dr Hilmi Yahaya said, however, the Government would eventually own the buildings in 20 years. 

“The agreement (with Putrajaya Holdings) is for 20 years. After that it will become government buildings,” he said, when winding up the Budget 2005 at committee stage. 

Dr Hilmi said the rent was still competitive compared to the rent of other office lots around Kuala Lumpur and other cities.  

“It is only RM3 per square metre. In KL, it is much higher,” he replied to Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar (PAS - Tumpat). 

To another question raised by Kamarudin on late distribution of allocations to state Governments, he said such distribution was made twice a year. 

“For Kelantan, payment is made in June and December. In 2004, the first payment was RM61.4mil and the second will be RM79.4mil,” he added. 

He also said an allocation of RM138mil to Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd (IWK) was needed to solve its cash flow problem as consumers refused to pay for IWK services. 

To a question from Datuk Yap Pian Hon (BN - Serdang) on tax exemption for Chinese cemeteries management associations, Hilmi said the Inland Revenue Board would study their applications.