Penang Island: One big construction site?

Residents around Karpal Singh Drive today submitted a memorandum at the Penang State Assembly protesting reclamation plans in their area.

The plan refuses to go away even after the Department of Environment rejected the environmental impact assessment report for the fifth time (yes, you read that right). The must be some kind of record! Read this piece on the Aliran website.

Mega-projects are dotting many parts of Penang Island so much so some people are calling the place “one big construction site”.

All this is happening while the population of Penang Island is barely rising while total fertility rates have plummeted well below population replacement rates.

Let’s look at the mega-projects taking place or in the pipeline:

• The “Silicon Island” reclamation, which has eaten up precious fishing waters
• The looming Karpal Singh Drive reclamation, which threatens the Middle Bank seagrass marine sanctuary
• The two Bukit Gelugor 61-storey skyscrapers in the pipelinne, which has upset residents of an established neighbourhood nearby.
• Construction work for the Penang cable car project, which could lead to congestion around the Penang Botanic Garden and overcrowding on the Penang Hill summit
• Reclamation at Tanjung Tokong to create an artificial island
• The planned disposal of the sprawling Penang Turf Club land, a green lung originally meant for recreational use and now slated for potential property development
• Plans for construction of skyscrapers along Gurney Drive
• Penang airport expansion
• Construction of the RM17bn Penang light rail transit (which has already mowed down dozens of trees apart from swallowing billions in federal funding), while ferries, buses, pedestrian walkways and cycling paths play second fiddle with meagre budgets by comparison.
• The “North Coast Paired Road” project and the Air Itam to Jelutong expressway highway projects along hill slopes costing billions of ringgit

Meanwhile, land taxes and water tariffs could rise soon.

At its core is a fundamentally misguided notion of development. This is happening at a time when many workers and older people are struggling to meet basic costs of living with only limited welfare aid reaching the most disadvantaged.