TBRA Annual Report 2018

TBRA Annual Report 2018

The following activities were carried out during the year:

1. TBRA Committee Meetings - The TBRA Committee met 7 times and also consulted frequently by WhatsApp and email.
2. Penang Island Structure Plan - TBRA gave our feedback on the proposed draft of the draft Structure Plan. We also insisted on being called for the hearings and made our presentation to the Committee that heard feedback from CSOs.
3. North Coast Paired Road (NCPR) - This planned double lane road from Teluk Bahang to Lemba Permai is feared to open up access to virgin hill land high above the sea which will be attractive for real estate companies to construct luxury highrises and/or villas.
   The carrot to make people accept the road is that it would shorten the driving time to and from Batu Ferringhi (only by 10 to 15 minutes) and be a backup for the coastal road. TBRA thinks that not enough alternatives have been examined and the ecological damage would be too much.

TBRA has been making statements in the media regarding this and is also applying for the 59 conditions to be made public; they were attached to the conditional approval by the Department of Environment.

4. Letter to ADUN Zairul. The Zenith company had held one information session for Tanjong Bungah back in Nov. 2016. In Nov. 2018, TBRA requested Zairul to arrange for a public townhall session regarding the NCPR EIA report which had just come out – he replied that it would happen but that was 6 months ago; nothing happened and we are disappointed.
5. PMTP the Penang Master Transport Plan and the Penang South Reclamation project worries many Penangites. Together with Penang Forum and other R.A.s, TBRA spent a lot of time on advocacy and protest. We also wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister appealing to him to intervene in reviewing the PSR and the PTMP. Our letter was well publicised in the media.
6. PIL1 (Pan Island Link 1) took up joint efforts. The WhatsApp Groups on these issues became huge with messages all the time, hundreds per day. There were at least 8 Public meetings in August and September 2018. Also street demonstrations like a protest on Mon. 6 August at the opening of the State Assembly. Many people, banners, posters. Our chair, Meena, was a frequent speaker. Aside from PIL1 (just approved), other questionable projects are the LRT, the 3 islands to be reclaimed, the undersea tunnel (funding now under MACC investigation) and 3 Paired Roads of which the NCPR is the one that worries us most. The hope now is to see the MACC stop the tunnel. This would delay the NCRP as it is one part of a 3 highway /one tunnel project by the Zenith company. We also submitted our feedback to the PIL 1 EIA and have issued several press statements in this regard.
7. Granito Commission of Inquiry - TBRA took an active part in the COI and sat through the entire hearings and was allowed to cross-examine all the witnesses. This took a lot of time with our Chair and her assistant completely involved in the case. We have also been invited to provide our submissions to the COI after the conclusion of the hearings. We have just done that and look forward to some very good findings and recommendations. In the meanwhile, works seem to have re-started. Also, there are miniature Granito towers at Tesco advertising to sell apartments. TBRA is writing to MBPP to ask why this is allowed because the Commission of Inquiry has still not presented its findings.
8. Sungai Ara (vs Sunway) Appeal: TBRA supported the Sg Ara residents in their case in the Court of Appeal as the outcome of the hearing has significant ramifications for planning law in the country, especially as regards developments on hill-lands. We are awaiting the outcome of the appeal.
9. Kampung matters. – Trying to help residents who have often spent generations in a house but do not own the land it is built on. They risk eviction and need to get organised for alternative housing. TBRA Cttee members have spent hours listening and advising kampung people. Doing that we notice many residents, also in condos, have no idea of the NCPR or of other State plans (like the widening of Sungai Kelian Road, right in the heart of TG Bunga). We could spend days doing advocacy. (But all volunteers; no time.)
10. ROS and TBRA Rules and Regulations:
    Reporting to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) must now be done online and is a lengthy, complicated and frustrating job. We need to get approval for the new Committee members as well as approval of the amended TBRA Rules & Regulations (R&R). The amendments had been adopted by the 2018 AGM and were approved (over time) by ROS. However, the ROS requested that we align our Rules & Regulations to the ROS template, so it is easier for them to check and approve. This was done. The content was not changed, only the layout. The final text was submitted to ROS and approved.

At this AGM, we will have copies available of the ROS approved R&R. As the content of the R&R has not changed since the amendments approved by the AGM last year, there is no need for the AGM to approve them again. They will be circulated for information.

11. TBRA’s Sore Thumb to finally become a Coastal Park? There is a video of Lim Guan Eng announcing that by December 2018 this park would be available. “A Pocket Park for Tanjong Bunga”: The video was taken before the 2018 elections at the Sore Thumb with YB Chow and others around (but TBRA was not invited and the whole video scene was wrapped up in 2 or 3 hours - before anyone could intrude). We considered it an election gimmick… However, we have since found out that an embarrassing problem has stopped any action to begin. Apparently, government access to the Thumb has been blocked because the right-of-way to the park has been given away. Probably to One Tanjong. The office dealing with this conundrum is the CMI = Chief Minister Incorporated. It will need to sort out legal obligation versus public promise.
12. Welcome to Tanjong Bunga; Repainting mural in front of Mercure Hotel: The Mural was done in 2009 and the paint is peeling off. Last year TBRA asked the Four Points Hotel to help repaint but they had budget problems. The Mercure wants to get Arts school students to repaint but has promised TBRA to keep to the historical purpose which had to do with TB being in Secondary Corridor with lower density.
13. Sungai Kelian and other rivers Batu Ferringhi side: There is a proposal to do a study of the rivers. TBRA agrees to participate in the study.
    
    TBRA is the only registered body representing Tanjong Bunga residents. To be effective we need public support and commitment to help preserve quality of life in Tanjong Bunga.

TBRA 17-4-2019

PDF version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wQLueHxGzess-tzbsmUsYatj2HbiqrDq/view?usp=sharing