No projects above 250 feet got nod, insists Penang BN

While Penang BN has admitted that the previous administration had approved hillslope projects, its chief Teng Chang Yeow said this was before the 250 feet (or 76.2 metres) guideline was imposed.

According to the Economic Planning Unit in 2002, the federal government defined a hill as an elevation measuring higher than 500 ft (or 150 metres).

Chang Yeow (left) said when he was a Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) member from 1992-1995, and invited to attend the state planning committee meetings during the state executive council meetings, no projects above 250 feet had been approved.

He criticised the current state government for blaming the previous administration for several projects approved, and questioned why the MPPP has only declassified documents from 2006 to 2012, and not those since 1985.

This follows complains from state BN leaders who tried to view the documents in Komtar yesterday, who said the viewing time was too limited and that the group was prevented from taking photographs of the papers.

The documents were declassified and are available in Komtar after calls were made by the state BN following claims by the MPPP that the previous government had approved 37 projects which are over 250 feet (76.2 metres) before March 2008.

“If there is nothing to hide, they (MPPP)  should open up everything. We are ready to go through the documents,” Chang Yeow told reporters at a press conference yesterday.

“If this situation happened during the previous govenrment, we are prepared to help find a solution,” he added.

“What is most important is to address the interests and problems of the residents who are threatened by the relevant projects,” he stressed.

Responding to the complains, MPPP president Pattahiyah Ismail has now extended vieweing time from 90 minutes to three hours, twice a day, while groups viewing documents can request for photocopies of the papers at 30 sen per page.

Guan Eng denies killing hills

Chang Yeow said the BN was not blaming or pointing fingers at the current administration but was more interested in resolving the people’s problems.

He added that the state BN was not raising the issue or sought to assist the residents only to garner support for the coalition, which lost to Pakatan Rakyat in the last polls.

“To tell the residents associations that they can shift their support to BN is not something the people want to hear, they want solutions,” said Chang Yeow.

“We (in BN) are listening to them because this is a matter of public interest. We did not say they must support us,” he added.

Despite the criticisms and news report blaming Lim Guan Eng’s administation for hillslope projects, the chief minister insists that his government never approved any development above 250 feet.

Recently, Guan Eng said the present government has indeed imposed stringent guidelines on hill projects approved by the previous state government.

He added that the guidelines have  been worked out by a newly set-up independent professional committee, headed by Oxford geotechnical engineer Dr Gue See Saw and two other members from the Institute of Engineers Malaysia and Perbadanan Akitek Malaysia.

According to the MPPP, between April 2008 to May this year, 19 projects above 250 ft have been approved as they had been classified under “special projects” approved by the previous state government on Sept 13, 1996 which MPPP cannot reject as long as technical requirements are met.

However,  Chang Yeow remarked that based on experience, the MPPP has enough power and laws to impose stricter guidelines and conditions on developers.

This, he added, can be applied even to projects which have already been approved, so that they can be further monitored.

However, he stressed that it was a daunting task to monitor high density projects on hill slopes.

“We had never wanted to increase the density (on hillslope) development despite mounting pressure from developers for years,” he said.

“We have come under heavy criticism, and some have even pulled out from Penang, like the Low Yat group,” he added.

On a similar note, state Gerakan chief Dr Teng Hock Nan said while the state govenment has no power to cancel projects which have already been approved, as state Planning Committee chief, Guan Eng can set more stringent guidelines.

“What suprised us is many of the new development on hillslopes have taken the shape of  high-density building which the people are concerned about,” he said.

“We know there is a shortage of land in Penang, but we need to consider the enviroment,” he added.

BN fights back with its own propaganda sheet

On a related matter, the state BN will distribute 14 versions of leaflets starting this week to counter the state’s publicity and propaganda sheet ‘Buletin Mutiara’.

This, the state coalition, will implement as part of its ‘serang and terang’ campaign, which kicked off with the launch of a website two weeks ago.

According to state BN publicity chief Tan Cheng Liang, each set (in four languages) will target on different issues, starting with reports on hillslope development.

“One page compares the hillslope destruction rate - for BN it was 1.6 projects per year (37 projects in 23 years), while under Pakatan, it is 3.75 projects annually (19 projects in four years).”

When asked if this meant that BN admits approving hillslope projects in the past, Tan said the leaflets would be merely making a comparison based on data provided by the state government.