Tanjong Tokong, Gurney Drive land reclamation – who profits, who loses

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Those involved in land reclamation, construction of property highways, and developers are likely to profit the most.

But the environmental implications of the 891-acre Tanjong Tokong and Gurney Drive reclamation and the planned three highways are likely to be felt in the future – by residents and fisherfolk in the affected areas.

How much will the Gurney Wharf project cost – and who is actually paying for it?

Marina Bay at top left, part of the Straits Quay development at top right, and some beginnings of reclamation/limit of reclamation work walls?

Who was monitoring the environmental impact of the 240-acre reclamation under the first phase of the project after it was complete?

So what will be the impact of siltation and sedimentation on the surrounding coastline and the port for the second phase? Who will pay for dredging work that may be required in the future?

Developing in front of Straits Quay at top left, view looking out to sea, 9 July 2017

Meanwhile, the controversial tunnel project is now clouded in uncertainty. What will happen to the land-for-tunnel-and-highways swap deal?

These photos were taken by a concerned resident of Penang on 9 July 2017.

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tunglang
tunglang
11 Aug 2017 10.16am

LET’S GET REAL:
When even RM9,000 a month isnโ€™t enough to buy a house
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/08/11/when-even-rm9000-a-month-isnt-enough-to-buy-a-house/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FreeMalaysiaToday+%28FMT+News%29

National House Buyers Association says properties are unsold because of their ‘ridiculous’ prices, not the banks’ lending criteria, adding that banks should not relax their lending criteria. Read on & get real.

Jerome
Jerome
5 Aug 2017 10.56am

Chinese developer Country Garden is revamping its strategy to revitalise its US$100 billion Forest City project at Iskandar, Johor, after residential unit sales were hit by Chinaโ€™s restrictions on local Chinese buying property overseas to curb capital outflows. Having pumped in around RM4.7 billion in the Forest City project last year, the Hong Kong-listed developer will be investing around RM5 billion this year. The company is aggressively diversifying its customer base in the region and will be opening more than eight sales offices across new focus markets including South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates.… Read more »

Roche
Roche
6 Aug 2017 11.12am
Reply to  Jerome

Penang if under Umno-Gerakan will bring in Country Garden to reclaim more islands to build Forest City Penang.

Bansiewteeong
Bansiewteeong
6 Aug 2017 4.07pm
Reply to  Jerome

If BN regains Penang, these Chinese developers will come to Penang to reclaim more islands for foreign buyers of high end condo.

Nelson
Nelson
7 Aug 2017 2.16pm
Reply to  Jerome

There are two Forest City booths at Penang airport. Go check it up.

glissantia
glissantia
1 Aug 2017 2.11pm

So much sophisticated propaganda on “development”. So much covert financing of “think tanks” friendly to big-wigs and neo-con ideology. Yet, no one including the gomen is offering us the followiing data on housing by YEAR and STATE – if Stats Dept. knows, it must be an Official Secret:
1. No. of families earning 40% or less than median income.
2. No. of low-cost houses completed and handed over, including the “low” price.
3. Specific fed. gomen allocation.
4. Any additional, specific state gomen allocation.

Walter
Walter
6 Aug 2017 11.36am
Reply to  glissantia

You should participate in Think City, assuming you can give constructive feedback.

HBK
HBK
1 Aug 2017 12.41pm

Big win for Kampung Mutiara folks.

Case of Kampung Buah Pala deja vu? Only in Penang.

Zain
Zain
1 Aug 2017 5.19pm
Reply to  HBK

Durian runtuh for squatters.

tunglang
tunglang
1 Aug 2017 9.41am

No plans by Penang gov’t to develop low-cost houses despite large allocation: AG’s Report https://malaysia.yahoo.com/news/no-plans-penang-gov-apos-101541128.html GEORGETOWN: Despite receiving a large allocation from the Multiple Trust Fund for Low Cost Housing and PPR housing (Akaun Amanah Pelbagai Bagi Pembiayaan Projek Perumahan Awam Kos Rendah), the state government made no plans to develop low-cost housing projects here. This was a finding published in the 2016 Auditor Generalโ€™s report, which revealed that allocations received since 2013 had not been utilised, and that as of August 2016, the state’s Trust Account has a balance of RM121.99 million. The audit also found that a total… Read more »

zoro
zoro
1 Aug 2017 6.56pm
Reply to  tunglang

Now you love to develop more houses? Cut hills you say botak and falling rocks. Built in city, destroy heritage. Reclaim the sea, destroy the environment. Built in ulu mainland but everyone wants to stay on the island. zzzzzzzz. Tell us where to built

tunglang
tunglang
2 Aug 2017 8.02am
Reply to  zoro

You are too clever to spin everyday others’ comments but too (Anil I self-censor this word) to analyse & comment sensibly.
Too much Komtar Dedak makes one a (Anil I again self-censor this word)!
Need brain scan?

zoro
zoro
2 Aug 2017 10.00pm
Reply to  zoro

Who is spinning? zzzzzzz. You always peep and bark about botak hills, reclaimed land and builders building empty properties. Now you spin about why Gomen does not build more houses?

Jerome
Jerome
4 Aug 2017 8.25am
Reply to  tunglang

The Penang government has yet to receive a response from the federal government for an application to have more People’s Housing Project (PPR) to be built in the state. Penang Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said a letter dated April 20 on the matter was sent to the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry. “A 14.674ha plot in Jelutong was proposed as a site for the PPR project which can accommodate 3,000 units. “But there has been no response so far,” he said yesterday in response to issues raised in the Auditor-General’s Report that… Read more »

zoro
zoro
4 Aug 2017 6.43pm
Reply to  Jerome

Ask tun Lang to chase. He has been complaining that pg gomen built few public housing. As wearing amno contact lens, he can bark at centralised gone to speed up the progress. Kei yew.

tunglang
tunglang
8 Aug 2017 8.06am
Reply to  Jerome

Incoherent! Pls write better comments.

tunglang
tunglang
1 Aug 2017 8.48am

That huge iceberg should freak you out. Here’s why
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/14/world/sutter-iceberg-antarctica-climate-change/index.html

This could be the Noah’s Ark & Flooding Warning of modern times. Run to the hills or risk submerged in sea water!
Invest in coastal super-condos @ your own risk. It doesn’t matter whether you are in Antarctica or SingLand or Pulo Pinang.
Maybe you should invest in a floating home if taking in the morning or sunset sea view is what you cannot live without.

HBK
HBK
1 Aug 2017 12.49pm
Reply to  tunglang

Unfortunately Noah is banned in Bolehland.
So many may not be able to relate.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2014/04/05/noah-banned-in-malaysia/

eeyaw
eeyaw
31 Jul 2017 12.27pm

Issue is can the island accommodate higher population density given the dismal transportation accessibility both public as well as private?

tunglang
tunglang
31 Jul 2017 11.42pm
Reply to  eeyaw

This evening, I was at Jalan Dato Keramat (near Patchee Bakery) for a meal of Heavenly Tosai at an Indian vegetarian restaurant.
As I walked out after a hearty meal, I couldn’t miss the sight of ghostly looking Times Square condos with 95% of the windows in pitch darkness.
It was 7.45pm. 95% still unoccupied?
Why developers still building super-expensive homes (700K – 1+Million) when majority can only afford or are qualified for below 200K homes?
Let’s see when the housing bubble will burst in their greedy faces.

HBK
HBK
1 Aug 2017 3.35pm
Reply to  tunglang

Times Square operate ala airbnb and fewer PRC visitors came for MBI points redemption at M Mall. No light does not mean no occupancy as plenty of GRO hanky panky could be happening inside.

zoro
zoro
1 Aug 2017 7.02pm
Reply to  tunglang

Tun Lang you are so concern go and have a good spy. Maybe surprised suddenly you are pulled in as a customer. Lucky strike!

tunglang
tunglang
4 Aug 2017 12.34am
Reply to  tunglang

zoro, pls brush up your commenting skills.
Instead of taking cheap shots cheaper than Pasar Malam PJ!
It shows / reflects on you!

zoro
zoro
4 Aug 2017 6.46pm
Reply to  eeyaw

Give you a chance. Otherwise you have to sit. Cannot stand. I always tell my … to sit all the time.

tunglang
tunglang
8 Aug 2017 8.08am
Reply to  zoro

“Give you a chance”?
Are you still schoolboy-talking?

calvinsankaran
31 Jul 2017 10.57am

I think you forgot to add another key stakeholder who will benefit – the politicians and political parties. In fact they are the ultimate winners and stand most to benefit from such deals. The biggest losers – well no prizes for guessing – it’s us the rakyat !

zoro
zoro
31 Jul 2017 7.12pm
Reply to  calvinsankaran

In hk and sing land rakyat will be the real loser if the states do not reclaim land from the sea. Properties are like sky scrapers shooting through the roofs. Land is in very very short supply but every family wants a house. How to live in a one room are all house with kids, kitchen, bathroom dinning and bed room.in one? Similar in here. If no residential land, prices will go up. Sime convert plant land into housing and makes money. Same with ioi. 10 billion people where to put them?

calvinsankaran
31 Jul 2017 11.13pm
Reply to  zoro

Get your facts right before responding so that you won’t end up looking silly. SG reclaim land to build affordable houses for the average people and NOT to develop super condos for the super rich foreigners.

tunglang
tunglang
4 Aug 2017 12.41am
Reply to  zoro

Calvin, spinners usually don’t get their facts right!
They wantonly just pluck out of thin air to spin so to satisfy their immediate ego or to look silly (which they don’t realise).

tunglang
tunglang
1 Aug 2017 9.04am
Reply to  calvinsankaran

The ultimate winners – politicians & political parties. If property development (of sky-high end) is what they (who forget they are elected politicians) count on / bet on as perrenial political portfolio that can be touched, seen + gawked at & promoted day + night to the far corners of the earth. It doesn’t matter that the people (the bo bin-chui) have to transmigrate to other states (Sg Petani, Kulim or Alor Setar) in the name of Cosmopolitan Penang reserved for the rich & famous. Who cares? I am waiting for Pakatan Harapan’s Vision for Penang not of the slippery… Read more »

HBK
HBK
1 Aug 2017 9.46am
Reply to  calvinsankaran

Gerakan can promise building low cost PPR on Penang island in its GE14 manifesto? Name the building sites and pricing if serious about it.

zoro
zoro
1 Aug 2017 12.20pm
Reply to  calvinsankaran

Best is to get your facts right too. All the reclamation is not done by private companies but $ยฅ$ loaded Sin gomen. Sin gomen pays all the reclamation unlike poor pg state and no ยฅ$ from central gomen. Central gomen collect all taxes and tell your facts what tax to pay to state and to central gomen? You feel shame when pg did not owe any debts to central?

Naruto78
Naruto78
30 Jul 2017 6.46pm

Certain Penang Chinese groups are more concerned with “50, Love Lane” issue.

calvinsankaran
31 Jul 2017 11.13pm
Reply to  Naruto78

And you think that is not an important issue?

zoro
zoro
1 Aug 2017 12.24pm
Reply to  Naruto78

Not as important as 1mdb which is billions and all races are affected.
You think 1mdb not important?

Jerome
Jerome
2 Aug 2017 11.07am
Reply to  zoro

1MDB failed to pay IPIC despite knowing its deadline in April 2017, it means they are bankrupt!

Please do let the Rakyat know where 1MDB is going to get RM2.5 billion from to settle the IPIC debt – another Taxpayer/MoF bail out? Hike in GST? Further removal of subsidies? Going after PTPTN defaulters?

Vikram
Vikram
2 Aug 2017 3.13pm
Reply to  zoro

1MDB now in focus again for failing to pay debt to IPIC. I suppose MO1 needs all the cash for giving out goodies before GE14.

zoro
zoro
2 Aug 2017 10.05pm
Reply to  zoro

Calvin is Mo1 in figures. He work out pg bloat in Gomen servants. Let us see about 1MDB from his angle as Mo 1 in data analysis.

HBK
HBK
30 Jul 2017 5.36pm

Anil,
Is Andrew Netto related to you?
http://comedycentralasia.com/comedians/andrew-netto/

Lau
Lau
30 Jul 2017 5.01pm

Haiyah
Heng ah! Ong ah! Huat ah!

tunglang
tunglang
30 Jul 2017 8.56pm
Reply to  Lau

“Heng ah! Ong ah! Huat ah!” That’s what I heard when some Chinese went to the grave yard at night to give ‘goodies’ to the ho hia-ti during Hungry Ghost Month!

Jerome
Jerome
5 Aug 2017 9.50am
Reply to  Lau

Pawnshops ‘ong and huat’ as cost of living soars

As poor economic conditions prevail in the country, the low- and middle-income earners who are most affected are hocking their valuables to make ends meet.

Since time immemorial, the pawnbroker has been a quick and easy way to get oneโ€™s hands of some sorely needed cash โ€“ provided one has valuables worth selling.

https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/9135/

glissantia
glissantia
30 Jul 2017 1.48pm

Primarily, the financial industry facilitates the transfer or transformation of existing assets, of which about 80% are real estate – Prof. Michael Hudson, 2016. Existing, usurious debt cannot be repaid without the constant creation of new debt to generate economic growth – Prof. Michael Hudson, 2011. I.e., capitalism cannot survive without mounting, total debt. The rise itself increases the prices of land and other goods – Prof. Michael Hudson, 1990. As this total is about 2.5-3 times the value of GDP, any “sharp correction” has a proportionately greater (multiple) impact on the banking system, and hence on national wealth including… Read more »

Steven N
Steven N
30 Jul 2017 10.35am

a Mangrove forest has been erased completey – it was the habitat of hundreds of creatures such as egrets, herons, crabs, otters, kingfishers, etc.etc. Mangrove forests are “regulators” of the natural balance and….now destroyed……Did you know that Australian government made Mangrove forests protected area’s?! Heavy punishment for those who touch these forest..
But here short term thinking prevails underlined by lots of money..

Wendy Tan
29 Jul 2017 6.50pm

Humans gobbling up the ocean..an environmental crime!!!

zoro
zoro
29 Jul 2017 10.31pm
Reply to  Wendy Tan

Either humans gobbling up the ocean or ocean waves gobble the land. Ocean waves orso commited a crime against humanity. Where are the pommies bunkers and embankment guns in Kelantan coat against japs during WW2 in Kelantan pantai Cinta? Buried by the ocean waves. Same in trengganu coastlines. Gomen has to spent millions to renourish the beach to protect properties against erosion.

Narendran
Narendran
30 Jul 2017 12.49pm
Reply to  zoro

Don’t forget the melting ice from Artic and Antarctic that will flood the low lying coastline.

zoro
zoro
30 Jul 2017 4.22pm
Reply to  zoro

Blame the japs and Hans for starting WW2 and bombs create heat. Also the Yankees for dropping thermal nuclear bombs. World temp creep upwards

james k
james k
29 Jul 2017 12.59pm

Regarding the reclamation of STP2 (T. Tokong & Gurney) – I’m afraid we’re crying over spilled milk as the deal was signed long ago (by previous state admin). Unless we pay billions of compensation to the developer (E&0), I’m afraid there’s nothing we can already do. What we CAN do is stop selling the part of THAT reclaimed land that belongs to the state gov. And that will stop if the tunnel + 3 highway project is stopped as that project is still in the air (so many issues: Is it now a bridge/tunnel? DEIA approved? Etc.) If this project… Read more »

Khoo Soo Hay
Khoo Soo Hay
29 Jul 2017 12.52pm

If development is done through private participation, because the state cannot afford the finance, it is the degree of profit which decides whether the private sector will come in with the finance to participate. The point is whether the development is necessary for the public, and the future development of the state. The private sector is after all in business to make money for itself or its shareholders, but it has to be fair to the public as tax payers on the quantum of profits it expects to make. The State however should ‘extract’ as much contribution from the private… Read more »