The Penang executive council will deliberate tomorrow on whether a moratorium would be called on hillslope development, said state exco Chow Kon Yeow today.
Chow said, “Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng will address the matter in the state exco council which meets tomorrow”.
He was responding to a question from the press on whether the Penang government would issue such a moratorium after the Tanjung Bungah landslide killing 11 occurred on Sat, Oct 21.
Chow also responded to criticisms that the local council should not have approved the 50-storey project where the landslide occurred after the Department of Environment had rejected it.
At a press conference in Komtar today, Chow explained that the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) has the full authority to control and approve development projects under its administration.
He added that MBPP would come to a decision after consulting the views of all federal and state agencies related to the development.
“Only the Department of Environment (DOE) did not support the development as it did not comply with the buffer zone stated under the Guidelines for Sitting and Zoning Industry and Residential Areas”, said Chow.
“However, DOE does not have the authority to decide on applications for planning permission submitted by developers. The authority lies in the MBPP,” he added.
Yesterday, MBPP mayor Maimunah Sharif said the 980 affordable housing unit were approved by the council’s One-stop Center as it complied with the ‘Safety Guidelines for Hill Site Development 2012’.
Chow reiterated that the Minerals and Geoscience Department (DMG) for Kedah, Perlis and Penang has on December 30, 2014, stated that it has no objections to the project as long as it complies with the necessary technical conditions.
The DMG and DOE are both under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Chow noted.
"The project area is situated some 714 meters from the blasting point of a quarry which has been operating there since 1960. The distance is further than the required 500 meters," Chow said.
“This project has fulfilled the requirements of the 1996 local council’s planning and development policy. It is also situated on a plot that is below 76m (or 250 ft) and categorised under category II (public housing) with a slope ratio of 20 degrees, which is the limit allowed for development,” Chow explained.
“MBPP approved the project after obtaining feedback from other related agencies, (therefore) clearly this is not a hillslope development as alleged by Penang Forum and other state opposition parties,” he added.
No dialogue with NGOs
Asked to respond to criticisms that MBPP should not have okayed the development as one federal agency (DOE) rejected it, Chow said the local council has rejected applications even when they were approvals by the departments.
“This is because MBPP decides after reviewing the projects and departments’ feedbacks on the whole,” Chow replied.
“There are cases where projects do not meet the proper guidelines but DOE has approved it,” Chow claimed.
DOE has also approved two other projects nearby, the Tunku Abdul Rahman College and three-storey residential homes.
Asked if the state leaders would attend a dialogue with NGOs over the landslide issue, Chow said, “Let’s focus on getting all the facts right first as there is still a lot of misinformation and allegations based on false information”.
“It is our responsibility to clarify and share the proper information. Even if you want to comment or analyse the situation, let it be based on the right source”.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the state would comply with guidelines whenever it is required to do so.
“In this case, there was no requirement for an Environmental Impact Studies, if there were, we would have complied with it, whatever the recommendations, yes or no, we would comply or else it just remains recommendations (by DOE),” he said. -Mkini
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