GEORGE TOWN: Some 100 residents of a gated neighbourhood in Seri Tanjung Pinang are having sleepless nights after learning that the authorities had approved a mammoth luxury serviced apartments to be built nearby.
The Avalon, Villas and Acacia Residents’ Association (Avara) members gathered yesterday in protest, describing the news as mind-boggling.
Two months ago, they were told a two-tower, 38-storey apartment would be built on a reserve land measuring slightly bigger than a football field. (1.48ha)
The residents were also informed that the serviced apartment project would have 156 units per acre, which was higher than the 30 units per acre allowed by the local authorities.
However, their plight and objection to the local authorities fell on deaf ears, forcing them to hold the protest.
Avara is now calling on the state government and its local authorities to stop the developer from carrying out works at the site, citing concerns of loss of a green lung and the negative impact on the surrounding area.
“The site is the only open space within our neighbourhood, with a green field which we and our children have been playing football and flying kites. Next to the site is the only mangrove forest on the northeast coast of Penang island. We worry that this project might affect the ecosystem of flora and fauna for the migratory birds there. We fear we will lose all these to some concrete jungle,” said association spokesperson Ung Chirt Kye.
Ung said despite given an opportunity to object to the project, the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) went ahead and approved the planning permission for the project.
“Close to a hundred objections were put in by us. We are disappointed that only 10 of our residents were recognised by MBPP as the affected owners,” he said.
Ung added that the MBPP had only informed the approval of the project through a letter dated Mar 5, nearly three weeks after the planning permission was approved on Feb 17.
He said the residents then have appealed against the grant of the planning permission via the Penang State Appeals Board.
“We have filed an appeal on Apr 6 but we have not received any notice of case management or hearing. Through our lawyers, we have sent in our written request dated Apr 9 to the MBPP’s Building Department to withhold the approval and the issuance of a Commencement of Work order pending disposal of our appeal.”
There are presently 121 homes which are part of the Avara, which are mostly three-storey houses.
Checks by NST showed hoarding had been erected along the 1.48ha land, with the space between the homes and the site less than a metre away.
The contentious land is a ‘payment land’ worth RM135 million by the Penang government to a company for the study of three main roads.
The state government had told the state assembly it would be spending a total of RM305 million on the study of the three main roads and the undersea tunnel connecting George Town and Butterworth.