Object to proposals in Penang draft local plan, residents told

 

An NGO said the Penang Draft Local Plan (Island) 2030 would impact the quality of life and heritage status of George Town. (Facebook pic)

GEORGE TOWN: A local NGO has called on residents to object to development plans under the Penang Draft Local Plan (Island) 2030 as it will impact their quality of life and the heritage status of George Town.

Penang Forum said the objections should be filed by Jan 10 to the Penang Island City Council (MBPP), which would then hold dialogues with residents.

The NGO’s representative Lim Mah Hui said these sessions with the general public must be “genuine and not a whitewashing exercise”.

“It should not be one where they (the local council) ask you (the public) to come and listen to them, and after that, they ask you to leave and you never hear about the plan again, and then it is passed,” Lim, a former Penang councillor, said at a press conference here today.

“That was what happened with the Structural Plan,” he said, referring to the gazetted Penang Structural Plan 2030 which included the much-criticised Penang South Reclamation project.

Meanwhile, Zulfikar Aziz of the Penang Public Transport Users Association (Petua) questioned the rationale for pushing the proposed Bayan Lepas LRT project that would link Bayan Lepas to George Town as the main transport mode for the city area.

He said the LRT project was unlikely to be completed by the year 2030 and therefore should not be a priority in a local plan that would expire by then. “It is more of a state structural plan item,” he said.

Lack of affordable housing in local plan

Meanwhile, Parti Sosialis Malaysia highlighted the low percentage of additional low-cost and affordable housing units proposed for completion in the local plan.

Its central committee member Choo Chon Kai noted that only 27,100 (45%) of the planned 60,017 units are to be built by 2030.

He said this was inadequate to cater to the needs of islanders in the B40 and M40 income groups.

“We recommend that the percentage of the low and medium-cost homes for the B40 – which costs less than RM72,500 per unit – be fixed at 40% of the total number of housing units proposed, while the percentage of affordable housing in the price range of between RM72,500 and RM200,000 for the M40 also be fixed at 40%,” said Choo.

Public viewing of the Penang Draft Local Plan (Island) 2030, which was supposed to end on Dec 13, has been extended to Jan 10 by MBPP. - FMT