KUALA LUMPUR: Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng on Tuesday, June 22 questioned why the federal government had handed over funds, meant for conservation efforts in George Town, to be administered by the federal government's investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd instead of the Penang state government.

In a reply to Lim's question earlier, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Donald Lim had told the Dewan Rakyat that the RM20 million allocation for George Town this year had been channelled to Khazanah to manage conservation works in the George Town heritage site.

"Funds for the subsequent years will be prepared under the National Heritage Department which falls under the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry," Donald added. Donald however did not answer when Guan Eng asked why the funds were not channelled directly to the state government.

At a press conference later, Guan Eng complained that it was unfair of the federal government to give RM30 million directly to the Melaka state government while Penang's portion of the conservation fund was being channelled to a government-linked company.

"That's discriminatory, that is unfair. It shows that you are being partisan about heritage which belongs to all Malaysians," Guan Eng said, adding that managing heritage sites was not part of Khazanah's field of expertise.

George Town and Melaka were admitted to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) list of World Heritage Sites in July 2008.

Guan Eng added that RM20 million was insufficient to cover the high costs of conservation and that the Penang state government still drew from state government funds and private sources.

Khazanah, via its wholly owned subsidiary Think City Sdn Bhd, have been tasked with disbursing funds to state bodies and individuals involved in heritage preservation and conservation in Penang.