THE Penang government has accused the Department of Environment of double standards as the DOE had rejected Taman Sri Bunga Sdn Bhd’s application for its project but approved two earlier projects in the same area in Tanjung Bungah.
Local government exco Chow Kon Yeow said the two projects built years ago were even closer to the permanent quarry in Lembah Permai, Tanjung Bungah, near where Saturday’s landslide killed 11 workers at a construction site for affordable high-rise homes.
The two projects were the Tunku Abdul Rahman College and a residential project with three-storey bungalows and semi-detached homes.
Chow said they were approved by the DoE on May 22, 2008, according to the Penang Island City Council (MBPP).
“The DoE previously found no issues with the two projects located in the same area which were less than 500m from the quarry.
“To say that DoE checked the apartment project and rejected the developer’s application without taking into account that the department itself had given approvals to the two earlier projects before the landslide happened, do we say that the DoE practised double standards?” Chow said today.
The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry yesterday said the DoE had rejected the apartment developer Taman Sri Bunga Sdn Bhd’s application in January 2015. Among the reasons were that the site was right next to a granite quarry and lacked an adequate buffer zone.
MBPP, however, said the distance between the quarry’s blasting point and the project site was over 500m, and that federal guidelines for the minimum distance between a development project and a quarry is 250m.
MBPP mayor Maimunah Mohd Sharif said the developer of the affordable high-rise homes submitted an application for planning permission to the council in November 2014.
It was reviewed by various technical departments before it was tabled at the one-stop-centre’s (OSC) committee in February 2015 for consideration and approval.
The building plan was submitted in April 2015 and it was granted conditional approval the next month.
Earthwork plans were also submitted in May 2015 and approved the following month with conditions, before the developer was allowed to start work in January last year.
“The project site is in a general residential zone. It is a class two slope under 20° gradient. The site is on land with a contour of between 18m and 40m. The land is also less than 250ft (76m) above sea level.
“The project complies with the 2012 Safety Guidelines for Hill Site Development, and also received approval from the Minerals and Geosciences Department in December 2014,” she said.
The Penang Structure Plan prohibits development on hill land with slopes of 25° and more, and on land higher than76m above sea level. The project site, being on ground lower than this level, is considered low land.
Maimunah said based on the details of the project, as well as the DoE’s support for the two earlier projects in the same area, MBPP gave the developer the nod to build the 50-storey affordable apartment project.
“The project went through reviews by all external and internal technical departments. The overall review by 20 technical departments were taken into consideration.”
Civil society groups and critics of the Pakatan Harapan state government have blamed the DAP-led administration for allowing development on hills and slopes, with some even warning PH it would lose votes.
But the state and MBPP have insisted that the landslide was a construction site accident.
Chow and Maimunah said they suspected that there was negligence on the part of the construction site management.
Chow dismissed suggestions that the location of the project near the quarry could have contributed to the landslide.
“The question is how did the construction site accident happened, not the distance. Did the distance cause the landslide? We have to investigate what happened at the site and whether guidelines were followed,” he said.
– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com
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