Sale of TRX Land: TH must evaluate carefully - Jamil Khir Baharom

The Pilgrims Fund's (Tabung Haji) must carefully evaluate the sale of its land at the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) here, due to the potential of the valuable lot, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom.

He said an evaluation must be done to ensure the involvement of Muslim groups in the economic development of the land after its sale.

"TH has received offers to buy the land and is discussing with the parties concerned," he said when winding up the debate on the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP) in the Dewan Negara today.

On the suggestion of several quarters who urged TH to review the proposal to sell off the land, Jamil Khir said the final decision lay with TH's board.

He stressed that TH always endeavoured to ensure every investment it made was Syariah compliant and obtained a competitive profit in the interest of depositors.

In the meantime, Jamil Khir said TH had spent an estimated RM370 million for the management of Haj operations for 22,320 pilgrims this year.

He said TH had also maintained the cost of the Haj at RM9,980 for the past seven years despite a yearly increase in the cost.

"Although, the actual cost goes up every year, whereby the actual cost which should be borne by the pilgrims this year is RM17,270, the difference of RM7,290 is absorbed by TH," he said.

Meanwhile, the Dewan Negara sitting today approved the motion on the RMK11 without any amendments.

The motion on the national five-year development plan was debated for four days from June 22 before the winding up session by the ministries took place for two days from yesterday.

The motion on the 11MP, which has allocated a development expenditure of RM260 billion, is the final transformation move in turning Malaysia into a developed nation by 2020, and was tabled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on May 21.The Dewan sits again tomorrow.