Update: It looks as if the Botak Hill land was indeed rezoned. Now the question is, was it rezoned before 2008 or last year? Who was responsible for the rezoning and on what grounds?
The Malay Mail indicates that it was rezoned by the State Planning Committee last year.
But Jagdeep Singh Deo was reported as saying the re-zoning of ‘Bukit Gambir’ from a hill zone to housing was carried out on 9 August 2007.
Which is it?
Many Malaysians are bewildered by recent developments in the Malaysian Society for Transparency and Integrity (Tranparency International Malaysia).
Beverly Heights Properties Sdn Bhd is believed to have acquired the Pepper Estate land, on which stand close to 300 households. Who owns the firm?
Following the government’s eyebrow-raising decision to award YTL Corp a contract for internet services, learning programmes and the supply of Chromebooks to school pupils, we might be curious to know who exactly owns the firm.
Mukhriz Mahathir’s Kedah may try to extract water charges from Penang to raise the state’s revenue. At the same time, the Lankawai Development Authority (Lada) has signed a deal with a “tourism resort and high-impact attraction developer” to build a RM1.2bn “eco-tourism attraction”.
Following requests from a few people, this poll, which was initially closed after three days (on 9 July), is being re-opened and extended by a week until 22 July 2013.
Let’s hear it from you.
[poll id=”73″]
There are a number of reasons for the higher household debt. One of them is that we have lost the art of living within our means even as our wages have been suppressed.
Household debt in Malaysia has reached levels that should concern our economic planners.
A Singaporean “lifestyle property developer” has entered into a joint-venture with Beverly Heights Properties Sdn Bhd to develop land that covers Pepper Estate in Penang – a move that could result in the displacement of an established local community.
Update (The Star): “General Accomplishment Sdn Bhd was fined RM30,000 in default three years jail for carrying out earthworks on Bukit Relau without a written permission from the local authorities. The company’s general manager, Rohana Shariff, pleaded guilty on Thursday to the charge on behalf of the company before Sessions judge Khairul Anuar Abdul Halim.”
Now let’s see what happens next on the hill-top. They will probably lie low for a few months, maybe even a couple of years, and then… But the big question remains unanswered and will not go away: How did the State Planning Committee rezone this hill-top land to housing?
A new photograph taken on 6 July shows that the hill-clearing goes quite a way down, turning the hill into an eye-sore. Meanwhile, the Penang Forum Steering Committee has written to the MPPP.
