Fox makes its move

 Development issues, Environment, Malaysian finance/business, People's Park/PGCC  No Responses »
Sep 062007
 

Not making much headway with the Penang-based NGOs, the Fox Communication/Equine people have now trained their sights on the Jesselton Residents Association, neighbouring the Turf Club. The latest I hear is that this meeting will be held on 10 September at the Penang Sports Club nearby – two days before the official launch of the Penang Global City Centre mega project on the Turf Club land. This means the idea to hold the meeting at “The Mansion” has probably been dropped. What to do, their original invitees don’t want to turn up. Update: Now I hear they are targeting the performing arts people and trying to woo them with the proposed performing arts centre in the PGCC. And they are still trying to round up activists to attend the Mansion meeting. But hey, the Penang Sports Club is still pretty exclusive. Members – and their guests – only. Apparently, they [Read more]

A phone call from Fox

 Development issues, Environment, Malaysian finance/business, People's Park/PGCC  2 Responses »
Sep 042007
 

This is no rumour. I was reading an article by Raja Petra of Malaysia Today about Abdullah Badawi, Patrick Lim and rumours that someone had forwarded to me – when suddenly, the phone rang. It was a guy, Tajudin, from Fox Communication. Fox is the firm handling the PR for Patrick Lim’s Penang Global City Centre mega project. Lim is of course the executive chairman of Equine Capital, which is also involved in another project on mainland Penang – the 450-acre mixed residential and commercial development in Batu Kawan known as the Crescentia project. Crescentia, close to where the proposed second bridge is located, has an estimated gross development value of RM860 million. We are talking big bucks here. Anyway back to the PGCC project. We are talking even bigger bucks here. Tajudin was under the impression that I was the one coordinating on the NGO side the meeting between [Read more]

Unspinning Patrick Lim’s spin on his Penang mega project

 Accountability, Development issues, Environment, Malaysian finance/business, People's Park/PGCC  5 Responses »
Sep 032007
 

So just as my public relations guru (PR Guru) friend predicted, the spin is out for the Penang Global City Centre (PGCC) project on that sprawling green lung (and prime land) that used to be the Penang Turf Club. The Star today reports Equine executive chairman Patrick Lim (widely known as “Patrick Badawi”) highlighting two aspects of the project, which will be officially launched on 12 September 2007: Two new flyovers that Equine associate Abad Naluri will build to connect the PGCC to the Penang Outer Ring Road (another controversial project); and The green credentials of the PGCC – 40 per cent of PGCC to be allocated to “green and open spaces”, carbon-free city, blah, blah, blah It is no coincidence that these two aspects have been highlighted. They are obviously aimed at countering the concerns of Penang-based NGOs, which are opposed to the project because of its dire implications [Read more]

PR firm soliciting NGO views on Penang mega project

 Development issues, Environment, People's Park/PGCC  No Responses »
Aug 222007
 

I’ve just heard from a reliable source that a PR firm, Fox Communication, is going around meeting NGO representatives to find out their views on the Penang Global City Centre project. The project is located on that vast plot of prime land used by the Penang Turf Club, which will be relocated to the mainland. The PGCC is being developed by Equine Capital. Isn’t that a Patrick Lim company? I hate to think what the traffic will be like along Scotland Road, already congested during peak hours, if they go ahead with the PGCC and build, what, 40 tower blocks on the Turf Club land. This project will in all likelihood spell the deathknell for Komtar, that mega project of the 1970s. The 65-storey tower block is fast turning into a white elephant even before all the planned phases are completed. As one veteran activist said, the PGCC project “looks [Read more]

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