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From the corridor, I spotted a tall solitary figure strolling in the school courtyard in the evening light.

For one moment, it felt as if I had been transported back in time. The setting looked familiar - though there seemed to be a lot more potted plants and greenery around.

“Brother Charles!” I called out.

He spun around to see who had called.

We walked towards each other and I asked him the question that principals and teachers dread: “Do you remember me?” Then I mentioned my name to spare him the embarrassment of replying in the negative.

“Yes, I know you,” he assured me. “I have seen you a a couple of times over the years.”

Coincidentally, we were standing just outside my old Form Five classroom, next to the Brother Director’s office, in St Xavier’s Institution, Penang.

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So the latest count is 40 towers of more than 10 storeys each, higher than our earlier estimate of 37 towers.

This is the count, based on the permission plan. Download the plan below by clicking on the link and note the 5-storey podiums for car parks in this “zero-carbon” city.

PGCC permission plan

My sources tell me that the PGCC developer’s consultants said yesterday they would avoid cutting down the trees along Scotland Road but admitted that some angsana trees would have to make way for the road widening/flyover work, especially near the Jalan Batu Gantong junction, to cope with the extra traffic anticipated.

These trees are actually heritage trees. Some concerned Penangites pasted posters (see picture above) on the trees likely to be affected. One person who has seen the plan told me that perhaps a few dozen trees would have to be chopped down.

By this morning, the posters had disappeared.

The threat to the trees flies in the face of the assurance given by PGCC master-planner Nasrine Seraji, which was reported in the New Straits Times:

Paris-based architect Nasrine Seraji also gave the assurance that the angsana trees along Jalan Scotland would not have to make way for the project.

“Residents in the neighbouring Jesselton area can also expect a better view, improved air quality and enhanced property values,” she said here yesterday.

(Have I taken her comments out of context?!)

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