GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) approved applications for hillslope developments on 38 lots on the island in the last two years, MPPP president Patahiyah Ismail said.

She added that applications on 17 lots were rejected during the same period.

Patahiyah refused to disclose where the developments were located, as some cases involved legal issues and were pending in court.

She said that in approving the applications, the council referred to a hillslope development safety guide drawn up by Oxford-trained Prof Dr Gue See Sew, a former international chairman of the coordinating committee of Apec Engineers and president of the Institute of Engineers Malaysia.

“We are considering making the slope development approvals more transparent by putting them on a website,” Patahiyah told a press conference here yesterday.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who was present, stressed that the state government had not approved any development on contours above 76m-high, except for green areas like a park.

He said he was referring to developments above 76m when he said on April 20 that hillslope projects in the state were either approved or undertaken by the previous state administration.

“Of course we have approved development on slopes, but a hill by definition must be land higher than 76m,” he said.

At an earlier event yesterday, Patahiyah said she had barred MPPP councillor Dr Lim Mah Hui (who previously said that the state government had influenced the approval of a hillslope development in Sungai Ara) from issuing statements on hillslope developments because it could besub judice.

Source: The Star

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Municipal Council should revise its guidelines on hillslope development and land usage, said Tanjung Bungah residents association member Datuk Dr Leong Yueh Kwong.

This was in view of the many landslides on the island lately, he said.

“Until the guidelines are revised, there should be a temporary halt on all hillslope projects,” said Dr Leong, the former director of the Socio-Economic & Environmental Research Institut, now known as Penang Institute.

He said the guidelines on land use should also be reviewed.

“There are many development projects in the north-east district covering areas like Paya Terubong, Air Itam, and Tanjung Bungah, which cause daily traffic congestion.

“Very soon, we will reach a point where it will not be possible to travel to Batu Ferringhi because it will take too long to get there.”

Dr Leong said it was not true that Penang did not have sufficient land.

“It’s just that some of the land is not in the location that they want. It is in Balik Pulau and Seberang Prai.”

Pantai Jerejak Barisan Nasional coordinator and Penang Gerakan vice-chairman Wong Mun Hoe said the type of development supported by the state was worrying.

“It reflects a lack of planning. There’s an uneven spread of construction projects on the island.”

Meanwhile, the developer of a hillslope project in Bukit Gambier, near the Universiti Sains Malaysia campus, has defended the project.

Nadayu Properties Bhd executive chairman Hamidon Abdullah said that even though the company owned 3.57ha of land, it was using only about 1.3ha.

“We identified the 76.2m line on the slope and no development will take place beyond the stipulated height. Some 1.87ha of land will be a green park.

“The project (Nadayu 290) is our first development project in Penang. We know the safety of the hillslope project,” he said.

Source: The Star

GEORGE TOWN: As developers get ready to erect more high-rise buildings on the hillslopes of Penang island, more people have come out to protest against what they see as the destruction of the environment.

At least nine projects are believed to be in the pipeline in Tanjung Bunga and Batu Feringghi along the northeastern coast of the island, Bukit Gambier near Universiti Sains Malaysia in Gelugor and Sungai Ara in the southwestern interior.

Among the development projects which came under heavy scrutiny and criticism was the land reclamation in Bayan Mutiara in the south-east of the island.

Tanjung Bunga Residents Association chairman George Aeria said the area could not sustain any more high-rise buildings.

He added: “As land becomes more scarce, developers are moving towards the hills, but they are not only building on the slopes they are cutting into them.

“We are seeing mud and muddy water streaming down to the sea.”

Sunrise Garden Kondominium management committee chairman Manuel Nicholas said high-rise buildings had to be spread out for proper development.

He disagreed that there was insufficient flat land on the island.

“There is a lot of space and flat land on the west coast of the island. If proper roads and facilities are built, people would want to move there,” he said. Sunrise Garden is in Sungai Ara.

The state government has come under heavy criticism for hillslope developments since 2008.

On May 30, residents of Mount Pleasure in Batu Feringghi objected to the approval given by the Penang Municipal Council for the construction of 21 four-storey villas and 80 double-storey bungalows.

A group calling themselves the Concerned Residents of Mount Pleasure have been objecting to the development in their area since January 2010.

On the other side of the island, Sungai Ara residents protested against the approval issued by the council for two hillside development projects on April 8.

Both the Penang Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat have blamed each other for the situation, accusing the other of approving the projects or failing to revise the plans.

While Pakatan leaders have said that some of the projects were approved by the then Barisan government, there have been allegations that a huge project stalled by the previous government was approved by the present state government.

Source: The Star

GEORGE TOWN: Some 60 villagers of Kampung Pokok Assam in Jelutong protested against an ongoing development project which they claimed was damaging the road and causing flash floods.

Jelutong Timur Residents’ action committee chairman Zarus Yusof, who led the group of villagers, claimed the housing project had caused the 3.2ha land there to sink, resulting in blocked drainage.

He also alleged that heavy construction vehicles had damaged the roads.

“As a result, we have been experiencing flash floods even when the rain is not heavy.

“How are we to move about in our own village?” Zarus said during the protest which was held along the main road outside Kampung Pokok Assam yesterday.

The villagers carried placards and banners claiming they were duped by the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP).

Zarus said the council should have built alternative routes for the villagers before the project started instead of blocking some of the roads there.

Villager Kung Soon Guan, 62, claimed the house he has been living in since birth had been demolished and he was now renting a room in Jalan Gemas.

The village is believed to be about 100 years old.

Residents claimed they were duped by the state government, which wanted to evict them from the village to make way for access roads to the new development project.

“We were given forms which we thought were census forms distributed by the State Land Office when in actual fact, the forms were to obtain our support for the roads to be built and to widen the Jelutong Muslim cemetery plot,” Zarus said.

He added that about 200 people from 34 families were affected by the project.

Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi said the state had met with the villagers and informed them that they would be given units of houses as compensation by the developer.

Source: The Star

GEORGE TOWN: Hillslope development in Penang will only be approved if the land is less than 76m high.

However, State Local Government and Traffic Management Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said developers who had obtained planning permission from the Seberang Prai Municipal Council and Penang Municipal Council prior to 2007 were exempted from the ruling.

“Yes, we have approved hillslope development but our approval is subject to scrutiny by the high-risk land development committee as well as over 10 other relevant authorities, including the local councils’ internal departments,” he said.

Chow said the local councils were finalising their reports on hillslope development approvals for submission to the Housing and Local Government Ministry.

“We will submit a full report by this week,” he said.

State Public Works, Utilities and Transportation Committee chairman Lim Hock Seng said recommendations of the high-risk land development committee, which he heads, were not binding on the local councils.

The committee comprises professional bodies such as the Mineral and Geo-Science Department, Public Works Department, Drainage and Irrigation Department and Public Works Institute.

State Town and Country Planning, Housing and Arts Committee chairman Wong Hon Wai said hillslope development was necesssary as the Penang population of 1.6 million was expected to reach two million by 2020.

Source: The Star