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NGOs to mull over legal challenge against Penang Hill cable car

GEORGE TOWN: Civil society groups have warned that they will legally challenges any unjustified approval the Penang Hill cable car.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) president Meenakshi Raman said the cable car project would require public consultation and participation as well as detailed environmental impact assessment (EIA) under the Environmental Quality Act 1974 and social impact assessment (SIA) under the Town and Country Planning Act 1976.

Speaking to the New Straits Times, she said they would use legal avenues to assess the environmental and social impacts.

"And if they are approved without justification, we have options to challenge the decision by the authorities," Meenakshi said on behalf of umbrella group Friends of Penang Hill (FOPH).

"We do not have much information now on the details of the cable car project other than some report that there will be 43 gondolas and 15 towers along the line.

"Given that this project is in two very environmentally sensitive areas of Penang Hill, which is also a Unesco Biosphere Reserve and the Botanic Gardens, detailed analysis of the environmental and social impacts will need to be undertaken, including by civil societies," she said today.

Yesterday, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, who is also Penang Hill Corporation chairman, said that Hartasuma Sdn Bhd, a local rail firm, won the bid for the cable car project.

Hartasuma's investment was estimated to be RM245 million for a 30-year concession.

Construction was expected to take three years.

Meenakshi said civil society groups would analyse and study the issues surrounding the project before taking any action.

On whether the cable car project may affect the Unesco Biosphere Reserve status, she said it could be expected.

She said an EIA was needed to see what impacts had been studied and what mitigation actions were being proposed.

The Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve (PHBR) was designated the country's third Unesco biodiversity conservation and protection area in September, after Tasik Chini in Pahang and Crocker Range in Sabah.

Meenakshi said FOPH had not been supportive of the cable car project, given the limited carrying capacity of the hill.

It also disputed projections in the draft Special Area Plan (SAP) on the number of people that could be allowed on the hill at any time.

"The overarching objective should be to limit the number of tourists on the hill, given the environmental imperatives and not require more tourism products and people up the hill.

"Our fear is that the continued economic viability of the cable car will necessitate more tourists and more tourism products on the hill, beyond its maximum carrying capacity of 4,800 persons at any one time, as per the 2016 SAP.

"In addition, the state, in deciding that the cable car will begin at the Botanic Gardens, is also jeopardising the gardens environmental integrity. We are concerned about the environmental and social impacts, including on traffic congestion of the cable car construction and its maintenance.

"Already the gardens and road to it is quite congested, especially during public holidays and weekends, with tourists and local users competing for parking space.

"The same will be the case on Penang Hill itself, with 1,000 passengers per hour," she added.

Meenakshi said the mass of people on the hill and in the gardens could cause an environmental nightmare.

She said FOPH had suggested improving the funicular railway and controlled road access via the gardens, which is currently the case, could also be considered, without causing environmental impacts.

She said point was to limit people going to the hill, given its environmentally sensitive nature.

"It should not be about promoting mass tourism. Many such examples exist world over, where constraints are in place to limit tourist numbers at environmentally sensitive spots.

"If our intention is to

preserve and protect the charms of the hill and the gardens, then we must impose limitations.

"If it is about promoting mass tourism, and more tourism products, such as the cable car, we are destroying the golden goose laying the eggs, such as the hill and the gardens.

"These environmentally sensitive places are the charm of Penang and mismanaging them will be disaster," she said.

In 2017, civil societies had warned that they would launch a Save Penang Hill 2.0 campaign if the state government went ahead with the cable car project.

FOPH had also reminded the administration of how the first Save Penang Hill in September 1990 succeeded in saving the last natural forest sanctuary on the island.

That campaign was said to have even cost then chief minister Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu his seat in the general election in October that year.

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