Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has dismissed MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong's challenge to debate on the undersea tunnel issue.

According to the DAP secretary-general, the MCA second-in-command is not qualified to make the challenge.

In a statement this afternoon, Lim said only MCA president Liow Tiong Lai is qualified to challenge him to a debate, just as former MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek had once challenged him to a debate.

However, the chief minister included a caveat that the debate must also encompass the 1MDB issue.

“Wee conveniently forgets he is still not the MCA president and is No 2 in a party that won seven parliamentary seats in the last general election.

“This is in contrast to me being the top leader of the DAP that won 38 parliamentary seats,” he added.

Yesterday, Wee challenged Lim to be “man enough” to lock horns in public debate on the undersea tunnel project.

The duo have been trading barbs through public statements over the Penang undersea tunnel project for more than a month.

Wee is claiming there is corruption in the project, but Lim and his administration denied it and accused Wee of repeating “old lies”.

On Feb 21, Wee had asked Lim why the tunnel's main contractor, China Railway Construction Corporation, was paid only five percent, or more than RM3 million, since the deal was signed in 2013, but work on it has already stopped.

Six days later, Wee asked why the Penang government had awarded a mammoth tunnel project costing RM6.3 billion to a "small" company.