The draft Penang Structure Plan 2040, is already well in progress.
It has been put up for public display and feedback – but chances are, most people in Penang are not even aware of it.
Look at it closely, and you will see that it appears to be a developers’ and contractors’ dream. It is one big construction site with plenty of ‘jobs for the boys’.
Lot of land reclamation sites all over – about 12 from the looks of it.
That includes the ‘Penang Gateway’ (the no. 9 in the blue circle on the map) reclamation project somewhere in Batu Ferringhi.
In the Penang channel, there appears to be a conflict in putting an earmarked reclamation project inside a zone that is supposed to be gazetted as a marine sanctuary – the unique Middle Bank seagrass strip (no. 2 blue).
And look at all the reclamation and ‘development’ slated for the area around Jerejak Island (no. 9 red).
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The SRS-proposed Islands B and C in the south are still on the map – despite previous reports that the project would be scaled down to just one island (Island A or the ‘Silicon Island’).
There’s another large reclamation site on the southeast of Penang Island.
And look at the half a dozen reclamation sites on mainland Penang.
Who are they building for, when the birth rate in Penang has shrunk well below population replacement level? Seems to me that Greed has taken over.
The third crossing (the tunnel?) is still on the map (no 6 blue). They never give up, do they?
Check out a new coastal ring highway on the east coast (no. 1 blue). Do we really need more highways instead of more sustainable mobility?
More multi-billion ringgit LRT links here and there, but I don’t see much in the way of a ‘better, cheaper, faster’ bus rapid transit and tram network. And where are the water taxi routes?
That’s not all. Far from it. Why are they indicating a 150-metre contour line above sea level, when at present there is a limitation on development exceeding 76 metres above sea level? It appears they want to allow development on hill slopes even higher than 300 metres above sea level, almost all the way up, subject to risk assessments and conditions.
Remember, after 18 years since the change in government in 2008, we still don’t have a more detailed local plan, which governs the permissible development and zoning densities allowed in your neighbourhoods. Why is that?
Meanwhile, most of the Penang public remain blissfully in the dark about what is in store for them.
The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.
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