The Sell-out of Penang

Overdevelopment Is Permanently Destroying Penang’s Unique Mix of Forested Hills and Beach

While the rest of the world firmly embraces coastal preservation, Penang is in the midst of losing its remaining natural beauty to unconscionable speculative development. The beautiful Tanjong Bunga seafront that has existed for generations for all to enjoy is now rapidly disappearing to benefit a few developers and real estate speculators.

Tanjong Bunga residents have objected vehemently to the unsightly concrete high rises and devastating hill cutting but have been powerless to fight the big money behind it; much of this money comes from financial consortia that have no home base in Penang . Many long time residents are livid that these high rises are being marketed to absentee investors with no long term interest in Penang, its peoples or its environs – the sell-out of Penang ! The island’s best assets are not being preserved for the future common good of all Penangites. Greed has overruled public interest.

Every open space along the beachfront and the hillside facing the beachfront seems to have been approved for ‘development’. Once construction has been completed, in the very near future, Penang ’s seafront and beaches will have forever been SOLD OUT!

Public officials have been hounded by the Tanjong Bunga Residents’ Association (TBRA) to address this thoughtless and haphazard development. The State Government and MPPP have sent them from pillar to post without significant answers. The authorities have no plan, no vision. The common good and the preservation of the coast for public enjoyment have become ignored issues on the backburner of our officials, deferring to the more lucrative carving up of the beachfront to the highest bidder.

TBRA has taken this to all the right people, namely the Chief Minister, and the President of MPPP, all to no avail. It appears that our public officials have neither the desire nor the power to reverse this devastating trend. Penang ’s Chief Minister, who represents Tanjong Bunga, has let his constituency down and is moving on prematurely, leaving his home district in a mess. He owes Penang more than this as his legacy! When questions are asked, everybody points the finger to someone else, somewhere else, far away from anyone in high office whose job it is to take responsibility and do something to stop this egregious development.

When nobody in authority can give a straightforward answer to why the beachfront in a tourism zone can willy-nilly be reclaimed in such an unsightly and environmentally unsound manner, the matter should perhaps be investigated by the ACA (Anti-Corruption Agency).

by Tanjong Bunga Residents’ Association (15-2-2007) Email : tanjongbunga@yahoo.com

Tanjong Bunga is SORE, very Sore !

Four “sore” fingers and one “sore” thumb. Now a "sore" backside behind Pearl Hill !

"The Cove" (a 4-block, 42-storey supercondo, starting at 6-floors above sea level) may well be Penang's second tallest set of buildings, about 50% taller than the Gurney Drive condos of 30+ floors (sea level), and nearly as high as Pearl Hill. Ask any tourist and they will tell you it is an eyesore in the landscape. There are at least 4 more plots in Tanjong Bunga that can become copycats if supercondo project approvals by the government become routine. If they do, the beach resort of Penang will be no more than a concrete jungle.

The latest banner by the Tanjung Bunga Residents’ Association (TBRA) also shows that ugly “sore thumb” reclamation project just next to “The Cove”. It had no approval sign posted and is illegal. The “thumb”, sticking out into the sea, was built by thousands of trucks dumping rocks up to April 2006 when a stop-work order was issued. TBRA has asked for it to be restored to its pre-2006 state and turned into a public park. So much of the beach is no longer accessible to the public, it is time that some of it is returned.

Currently pending before the State Planning Appeals Board is the question of a construction project near the Mount Erskine Reservoir. A selfish developer wants to build 25 three-storey houses on a steep hillside just below the red-roofed Pearl Hill Townhouses. These sit balanced on stilts that rest rather precariously on the hillside. Clearly if there is digging and clearing for the new houses below the Pearl Hill houses will risk tumbling down…and Penang will have its very own Highland Towers ’ disaster.

When the Townhouse inhabitants went to plead with the authorities to deny building approval because they fear for their lives, the developer’s architect said: “We all have to die some day”*. It is unacceptable that developers gamble with people’s lives. Yet, the MPPP went ahead an approved the project in early December 2006. The Pearl Hill Townhouse residents launched an appeal and collected nearly 2000 signatures in support. TBRA is very concerned about this project and will hold the Council responsible for any disaster that may occur.
Tanjong Bunga is Sore, indeed.