GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government has been told to put on hold all approvals for any mega projects on the island such as the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Penang Hill Cable Car until a proper Local Plan for the island is in place.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) said, although the Penang Island Structure Plan 2030 (SP) is in place and references to the LRT and cable car project are contained therein, there was no further details in terms of detailed zoning of areas which will only be shown in a Local Plan.
SAM president Meenakshi Raman said that as far as developments on Penang Hill is concerned, there was the Penang Hill Special Area Plan, which stipulates details as to the zoning of areas and what can and cannot be done on the hill.
However, she said there would be areas outside the Special Area Plan, especially in the foothills of the bottom station involving areas in the Penang Botanical Gardens and its surrounding areas, which required proper planning considerations.
"With regard to the LRT project, once the alignment is finalised, it will involve massive social and environmental impacts in the immediate neighbourhoods along the alignment which requires details in terms of the zoning plans in these areas.
"It is indeed regrettable for decades now, Penang island has yet to have a proper Local Plan to guide the details of planning and zoning.
"What the state government and the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) have been doing thus far is to approve planning applications without proper accountability and transparency," she said.
Meenakshi pointed to the Sunrise Condominium vs Sunway City case where the Federal Court in January last year chided the authorities.
She cited what was said in the court:
"… no local plan was ever drawn up by the local authority despite the Penang Structure Plan 2020 being gazetted in June 2007 and the express provision of section 12 of the TCPA (Town and Country Planning Act 1976) which envisaged that work on the local plan ought to commence before or soon after the Penang Structure Plan comes into effect."
She said, as stated by the Federal Court judges, "the development plan takes the form of the structural plan and ensuing from the structural plan, the local plan." She said the local plan details how the structural plan is to be implemented in each area and zone.
She said the Federal Court also stressed that another fundamental aspect of the TCPA is the inclusion of the element of public participation in the land planning process, which is an integral part of the democratic process that enables the public to require accountability in relation to development in and around where they live.
"Therefore, without a Local Plan, which requires transparency and the democratic participation of the public in the detailed planning, the state government and the MBPP will be acting without any accountability whatsoever, and this cannot be consistent with the planning process as envisaged by the TCPA.
"SAM urges the Penang state authorities to follow the law and halt further decision-making in relation to these projects, until a proper Local Plan is in place so that development planning is done properly and with proper accountability and transparency."
Recently, SAM said it was wrong for the Department of Environment director-general to approve the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approval for the Penang Hill cable car project without public display and feedback.
It said this was because under the Environmental Quality (Prescribed Activities) (Environmental Impact Assessment) Order 2015, all activities that relate to "transportation" are listed as a Second Schedule activity, which under the order, required public display and public comment.
However, Penang Hill Corporation (PHC) alleged otherwise.