The mothership is landing…
And so Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi launches the masterplan for Patrick Lim’s RM25 billion Penang Global City Centre project on 12 Sept.
They say a picture paints a thousand words. Have a look at these graphics visualising the PGCC, which I am reproducing here from architect firm Asymptote’s website in the public interest
I don’t know about you, but it looks like a soulless alien colony to me - as if a mothership from a distant galaxy has docked at the Turf Club land!
Now, what did the developer say about having 40 per cent green and open spaces?
In a recent NST interview, PGCC master planner Nasrine Seraji was asked what “zero carbon” meant.
She replied: “It means natural light, green buildings, vast parks, clean air, recycling policies and natural ventilation. A better life, a healthier environment.”
Vast parks? Do you see vast parks (see image below)? Looks like the only “vast parks” are those narrow strips of green between rows of building complexes. The 10 hectare one-kilometre-long narrow “Central Park” is just a little bit wider.
Even the “Central Park” will be full of “development” worth RM40 million: “playground, fitness stations, multipurpose outdoor courts, jogging path, children wading pools, garden pavilions and an amphitheatre.” So how much actual, untouched green space will there be left?
Does the 40 per cent include the 24-hectare “Penang Hill Park”, which apparently cannot be developed - and which doesn’t look like it is even in this graphic?
Just so you get your bearings, the road curving from the left of the graphic to the top is the proposed Penang Outer Ring Road (another controversial project!). The road at the bottom right corner is Scotland Road. Jesselton is somewhere at the top right corner. And the half dozen grey buildings on the far left make up the Batu Gantong crematorium and columbarium complex.
It was at this columbarium that I placed the ashes of my late grandma and my late father on two sad occasions over the last several years. How they landed up in a Chinese columbarium is another story but I chose the spot to place their urns precisely because it was peaceful and green and facing lush hills not far away. (Notice how the PGCC architects have left another little green space to separate the crematorium from the rest of the PGCC project, presumably to keep some distance from all the bad, bad fengshui lest it creeps in and eats into the developer’s profits. Hmm, I wonder if having a crematorium next door will affect property prices though. Maybe the crematorium could be turned into a “zero carbon” area too!)
For everything there is a purpose. Now, I am going to request my dear grandma (she was a great admirer of Mahatma Gandhi) and dad, who I know are in the company of God and his angels and saints, to watch over these green spaces. I know they will ask Him to protect these green spaces from greedy developers and to create a Penang State Park as a legacy for future generations of Penangites.
Already, I hear the main Penang NGOs are holding a press conference this Saturday to make public their stand on the PGCC. Stay tuned.
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Wow. Deja vu.
I recalled exactly the same thing happening in Kuala Lumpur during the 1990s when the Kuala Lumpur City Centre was built over the original site of the Selangor Turf Club. It’s not so much the project itself that is of concern, but the effects it will have on the surrounding area. Although there was already some degree of development in the area, the KLCC led to skyrocketing land value and the former suburb of colonial-era mansions and kampungs became a hotspot for property development.
Who knows how many historical buildings and villages were demolished in place of residential and commercial towers. Forgotten. The Bok House, just 250 metres from the KLCC, was abandoned for six years and torn down in such an undignified manner that it left me utterly disgusted. Neither are my peers aware of the former occupant of the nearby Pavilion Kuala Lumpur site, once the prestigious Bukit Bintang Girls School (my mom studied there during the 1960s and 1970s) - demolished in 2000 and vanished. Nobody of my age even seems to remember anything about the city 10 years ago or more. People here just don’t recognise KL’s history as much as those in Singapore, Malacca or Penang.
The KLCC may not be an exact scenario for comparison with the PWCC, but the former is a good case study on the effects of megaprojects in the middle of a underdeveloped area. Let this be known to the folks in Penang.
really getting out of hand
when the last fish is caught,
when the last river is poisoned,
when the last tree is cut,
then they only know, money cannot be eaten.
” Red Indian proverb”
we need 1 kilo of food
2 litres of water and 13.2 litres of air
a day to live,
this life giving oxygen is from the trees
the trees are the life of man’s survival.
pity the poor purchasers of this billion $
project. they have to pay air tax in years to come!!
its going to cost more than 25 big ones to do this unless the image in the Star is a ‘feel good’ picture, which is what most internaltional architect will show but when it comes to local implementation, the local arch. and structural engineers will not be able to carry thru without the cost approval from the developers. Note, developers are born greedy. Its in thier blood. At the end of the day i bet you will bet a ‘Run of the Mill’ square block and possibly some ‘funk’ thrown in, but only in the high end condos.
In terms of time, you will be looking at a 10-20 years developmet period. Look at KLCC. Its been 10 years since The Twin Towers were opened and there are still empty plots of land around the deleopment. We are lucky that there’s a park in the middle to make the area usable. KL Sentral is at the other end of scale - barren concrete waste land on one side and high rise office towers and aparment buildings looking into each other with very lighted sunlight. Worse than NYC.
What are you getting for 25 Billions?