Another dose of hill-slope flooding(!) in Chee Seng Garden and noise pollution from a construction site near Straits Regency leave residents frustrated over the slow response from the MPPP to their complaints.
Nov 282009
Many of us would think that the concern about hill-slope degradation in Penang and warnings of climate change are a fairly new development which began in the 1980s and 1990s.
Wrong. James Richardson Logan – the man who coined the name ‘Indonesia’ and who is honoured at the Logan Memorial outside the Penang High Court and buried in the nearby Protestant Cemetery – expressed such concern in the mid-19th century in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, which he edited. The brilliant Logan, who was ahead of his time, was a member of the Asiatic Society, corresponding member of the Ethnological Society of London and of the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences.
Here are some excerpts from the Journal Vol II, printed in 1848:
It was remarked that the whole of the eastern front of the range [of a mountain in Pinang] has within a few years been denuded of its forest…. In Singapore the present zealous Governor has, in an enlightened spirit … absolutely prohibited the further destruction of forests on the summits of hills…. Climate concerns the whole community and its protection from injury is one of the duties of Government….
Nov 052009
Tanjung Bunga residents have been urging the MPPP to closely monitor what is going on in the Surin property development project on the steep hill-slopes facing Chee Seng Gardens.
Photos by Tanjung Bunga residents – Click icon on bottom right to expand to full-screen slideshow
After much effort by the residents in highlighting the issue of uncovered hill-slopes, the MPPP has taken some action and the contractor has now partially covered the slopes, more so on the higher slopes. But many patches remain uncovered.
The residents have also complained that work is being carried out at night, sometimes past 8.00pm. They want the Council to confirm if the developer is allowed to carry on work beyond 6.00pm.
