The City Tower, formerly known as MBSP Tower, is the

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

headquarters of

Seberang Perai Seberang Perai is a city in the Malaysian state of Penang. Located on the Malay Peninsula and separated from Penang Island by the Penang Strait, it shares borders with Kedah to the north and east and Perak to the south. The city spans an are ...

within the

Malaysian state Malaysia is a federation of thirteen states and three federal territories, which form the primary administrative divisions of the country. Eleven states and two territories are part of Peninsular Malaysia, while two states and one territory ...

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

. Completed in 2005, it serves as the seat of the

Seberang Perai City Council The Seberang Perai City Council ( ) is the local government that administers the city of Seberang Perai, which encompasses the mainland half of the Malaysian state of Penang. The city council, which has jurisdiction over an area of , falls under ...

( ).

History

Old_Seberang_Perai_Municipal_Council_headquarters_at_Butterworth

Prior to the construction of the building, the headquarters of the

(MBSP) was a five-storey building at Butterworth. As the local government expanded its workforce and responsibilities, the existing office space became insufficient. In 2001, the city council acquired the present-day site at Bandar Perda from the Penang Regional Development Authority (PERDA) for RM13.5 million. Construction of the new 16-storey headquarters began in 2002 and was completed by 2005. The city council relocated to the new premises in the following year. The building was renamed City Tower in 2019, following Seberang Perai's ascension to city status that year. The construction of the tower was mired in controversy. Between 2000 and 2007, MBSP's reserves shrank by RM230 million. While the official cost of the tower was RM53 million, allegations arose that MBSP spent RM85 million on the new headquarters. Cost overruns also compelled the developer, associated with the then-ruling

Barisan Nasional Barisan Nasional (BN; ) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1974 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties to succeed the Alliance Party. It is the third largest political coalition with 30 seats in ...

coalition, to scale down construction to the present-day building. After

Pakatan Rakyat Pakatan Rakyat (PR; ) was an informal Malaysian political coalition and successor to Barisan Alternatif (BA). The political coalition was formed by the People's Justice Party (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP), and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Par ...

(now

Pakatan Harapan Pakatan Harapan (PH; stylised as HARAPAN; ) is a Malaysian Parliamentary group, political coalition consisting of Centre-left politics, centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has led ...

) gained control of the state in 2008, newly elected

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

Lim Guan Eng Lim Guan Eng (; born 8 December 1960) is a Malaysian politician and accountant who served as the Minister of Finance of Malaysia from 2018 to 2020. A member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), he has served as the party's second advisor si ...

initiated investigations into the alleged misappropriation by the local government, which reportedly led to a loss of development funds for the municipality.

References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures in George Town, Penang Office buildings in Penang 2005 establishments in Malaysia Office buildings completed in 2005

History

See also

References