The barrage is now run by a harbour authority

Members said the way the sale was handled did not put the interests of the Welsh taxpayer first.

They said the council's �240m sports village proposal may not provide the best value for public money.

The report is the second of three into the winding up of CBDC and the transfer of its assets and duties to other organisations.

The first focussed on the �220m Cardiff Barrage while the third will examine the pace of regeneration since CBDC was wound up.

Dockland transformation

Created in 1987, CBDC spent more than �500m of public funding to create jobs, housing and attract business investment in the rundown docks area.

The barrage is the centrepiece of the development, along with the Mermaid Quay shopping area and the Atlantic Village leisure park.

CBDC was wound up in 2000 with its �300m worth of assets sold or transferred to various successor bodies, including the council-owned Cardiff Harbour Authority.

The Wales Millennium Centre is being built

The audit committee's report praised the successful winding up of CBDC on time, despite what it called a "fractured working relationship" between the corporation and Cardiff County Council.

But it highlighted particular concern about the Ferry Road land deal.

The derelict and polluted site, jointly owned with Associated British Ports, was valued at �16.5m.

The assembly gave the council a discount of �2m on CBDC's �8m half-share in the plot.

But because the assembly owed the council �6m in funds intended to regenerate the bay, it handed the land over in lieu of the cash.

An assembly debating chamber is also planned

Members of the committee said they were seriously concerned that this �6m could have been spent on other projects but had effectively been lost.

They noted that CBDC was not enthusiastic about the planned sports village, although it had no alternative viable proposition for the site.

However, the assembly's permanent secretary Jon Shortridge assured the committee that the �2m discount would be repayable if the long-delayed sports village did not go ahead.

A clause in the contract also allows the assembly to clawback 30% of any profit the council makes if it sells the land within a ten year period.

Regeneration of Cardiff Bay is continuing, with construction of the �100m Wales Millennium Centre underway and plans for a debating chamber for the assembly.