GEORGE TOWN — Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has defended the Penang Development Corporation’s (PDC) decision to award bonuses of up to six months’ salary to its employees, citing the agency’s strong financial performance among other reasons.
Chow, who also chairs PDC, said that only 25% of its staff received the maximum six-month bonus.
He explained that the PDC board of directors had approved performance bonuses equivalent to five months’ salary, based on the agency’s achievement of over 85% on its 2024 balanced scorecard target.
In addition, PDC posted a pre-zakat and pre-tax profit of RM527.1 million in 2024 — a 91% increase from RM276.6 million the previous year.
The agency also surpassed its overall budget targets, recording 104% in revenue and 96% in expenditure, while saving RM8.6 million in interest through loan prepayments.
Chow also highlighted PDC’s implementation of high-impact strategic investment projects as further justification for the bonuses.
“Despite the fact that PDC is reportedly involved with several controversial land sale projects and unfinished construction projects, these matters were taken into account when the decision was made (to award bonuses),” he said in a written reply to Lim Guan Eng (Air Putih–PH).
“… and PDC’s management carried out catch-up plans to recover these projects so that they can run smoothly as planned.”
Lim had questioned the rationale behind awarding six-month bonuses to PDC administrative staff — a figure he noted was unprecedented among other state government agencies — particularly when the agency was embroiled in land sale controversies and had several incomplete construction projects.
The former chief minister also raised the issue during his debate on the motion of thanks to the governor yesterday, arguing that profits of that scale should instead be channelled into state development.
Lim further urged the state government to clarify how many staff members had received bonuses equivalent to six months’ pay.
On February 9, PDC CEO Datuk Aziz Bakar announced that 396 employees would receive bonuses ranging from one to six months, depending on their performance. – May 21, 2025