IPOH – The Perak State Government has never funded the Movie Animation Park Studios (MAPS) theme park project in Meru, that has now become a white elephant project.
The Menteri Besar of Perak, Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad said that the project was funded by PCB Development Sdn. Bhd. (PCBD) via loan from several financial institutions.
He said, PCBD is a subsidiary of the public listed Perak Corporation Berhad (PCB).
However, Saarani confessed that the Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Perak owns 56 percent stakes in PCB. Nevertheless, it is not involved in the investments made by PCBD.
Thus, he said that the state government did not lose or owe money as alleged.
“As the Menteri Besar, I would like to emphasized again that the state government is not involved with the debt and is not irresponsible for not paying the debt.
“Thus, the state government also could not interfere with the business operations of that company as it is managed professionally its board of directors and the management team of the company.
“In other words, the state government does not have the locus standi to meddle with the operations of that company,” he said while rounding up the Perak Budget 2022 at the State Assembly today.
MAPS was opened in June 2017 and it was supposed to be the main attraction of Perak. However, the theme park was shut down in January last year due to financial problems.
The notice of closure beginning 28 January 2020 until further notice was issued by the Messrs Ernst & Young to The Receiver and Manager Animation Theme Park Sdn. Bhd. (ATP).
Last Tuesday, an opposition leader from Perak admitted that the failure of the MAPS theme park project in Meru was not the fault of the existing state government.
However, the Aulong State Assemblyman, Nga Kor Ming hoped that the failure would not repeat itself as the current state government is bearing the debts.
He said, the opposition objected the development of theme park and it has finally become a white elephant project. The closure of the project has caused the subsidiary of the state government’s company, Perak Corporation Berhad (PCB) to owe RM810 million. -MalaysiaGazette
