Chief Minister of Penang defends tiger park idea

GEORGE TOWN: Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has defended his proposal to start a tiger park in Relau, saying that the state needed a new eco-tourism project.

“Some people have suggested a zoo but it is not economical to have one presently. The people, especially children, are generally interested in big animals. The ‘wow’ factor is there,” he said when asked to elaborate on his idea. Lim had announced that the state government planned to create a tiger park on a 40ha plot owned by the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) known as the Pondok Durian Cap Kaki.

He said Penang, in its pursuit to become an international city, should have such a park as most international cities had zoos. The park could have a few other animals but it would mainly feature tigers which symbolised bravery and dynamism, he added. “It will be a private-driven project and a tender will be called if the state government goes ahead with the plan.

“Currently the state is collecting public feedback. Those who want to contribute ideas or suggestions can write to the state government in Komtar or the MPPP,” he added.

The project, he said, would also help the state government and the MPPP tackle illegal farming activities at the proposed site. It was reported earlier that the proposal had received negative feedback from the public and several non-governmental organisations like the Malaysian Nature Society Penang branch. They are concerned about the safety issues and felt that the state should concentrate on promoting Penang’s heritage, culture and arts.

Meanwhile, Penang National Park and Wildlife Department director Noor Alif Wira Osman said the state government and private parties involved in the project would have to iron out legal problems if the plan goes ahead. He said it was not like setting up a bird park. “The location for the park must be suitable. The safety around the tiger enclosures and surrounding areas is also a main priority,” he said, adding that the care for the tigers would also be subjected to close monitoring by the department. “There are strict guidelines to follow to get the permit,” he said.

By LOOI SUE-CHERN, The Star.


From the above article, we can see that Penang's Chief Minister has included public participation within a very environmental sensitive development. The MPPP has gotten various feedback from the the public regarding what they think about the project.

Based on the feedback that were given by the public and NGOs, it is not a positive reaction from the public, althought this might sound bad to the state government or the chief himself, but bare in mind that the public had voiced there concern and that the government has to take in consideration of what the public in order to fully tackle the urban planning problem, this also shows that penangites are very active in urban planning participation.

But i really wish that MPPP could had set up a Public Participation online portal whereby everyone can post there comments online, this way we can all see the comments and further addon it and the speed and quality of communication between the public and administrative could be better. They could also upload plans and 3D image of the park and it's surrounding so that penangites can have a better picture of what is happening.

For my personal oppinion, i really think that the idea of a tiger park is kind of "out of the box" because it is so not Penang to me. And is it the only way to tackle illegal farming, don't we have government officers to do that? What R they doing? If we r going to have a development to stop this illegal farming why don't we have a casino, this way MPPP can make revenue out of the TAX and still stop illegal farming. Therefore, to the people digging their brains for this tiger park idea, please u all can do better.

What we need to focus on is the G.Town area, to improve and conserve the heritage and cultural elements of G.Town, Relau is no where near as important as G.Town to Penang Island, focus on those that are really broken. but if MPPP want to have a circus display like Malacca i hope that they know that Penangites aren't sitting ducks.

Something bad happened in Studio today

Today something bad happened at studio. We were having having this talk by Mdm Lim which is a registered QS (Quantity Surveyor) on the topic of project/development costing. One of the jobscope of a QS is to come out with an BQ (Bill of Quantity) to see whether the project is financially feasible or not. It was rather interesting letting us know that not all development can have mega rich people funding it.

The Palm Jumeriah.
Perfect example of money no object spending on development.

Therefore we must have financial control for all RATIONAL development.

Then the talk reach the Q&A session like always. I, with my jinx mouth asked a very sensitive yet important question, which is whether maintainence fees of an development, are included into the account of consideration (cause we all knew that Malaysia is famous for development projects that are Utopian and yet our maintainence are full of BS !).

Just hope that PutraJaya's Maintainence is not BS like always !

Mdm Lim told us that maintainence for a particular project are not included into the BQ (QS quote me if i am wrong here k). Then climax of the day came along, straight after she finish answering my question, dirty sewage water started pouring down from the ceiling directly above me.

How good timing can that be ! U tell me lah.

Everyone in the studio rushes out, to avoid getting soaked by sewage water.

More and more sewage water keep gashing in.

Then the water started to sip out from the studio and into the walkway.

there was so much water, even the staircase has become a makeshift waterfall.

I was able to escape the sewage water thanks to my perfectly tone, agile, strong, flexible and fast reacting body. If not i will become the laughing stock for the rest of my USM's life.

just like i told u, perfectly tone, agile, strong, flexible and fast reacting body.

After the incident, this is how my studio look like.

A total mess.

Everything is wet, soaking and my place is full of sewage water.
God knows what the heck is in that water.

U might think that the School of Housing, Building and Planning could had the best quality buildings in USM, and this is what happened. How bloody hell embarrassing is that. But just maybe HBP's teaching method is totally different from other institutions, they teaches their student what not to do by having it at your doorstep or should i say on top of your head.

Can someone call MAINTAINENCE please.

What Should Penang do about it ?

Recently, Penang State was hit by a whirlwind of troubles days before receiving the recognition to become one of the heritage site of the world. This is an article that I manage to found related to the issue.

Heritage at stake: Unesco status or high rise dilemma for Penang

By ANDREA FILMER

GEORGE TOWN: The state government has found itself in a catch 22 situation – jeopardise George Town’s Unesco World Heritage Site status or run the risk of being sued for hundreds of millions by developers.

The crisis centres on the building of four high-rise hotels in the heritage core and buffer zones which violate the guidelines approved by the World Heritage Committee (WHC).

An artist’s impression of the Rice Miller boutique hotel which will be built in Weld Quay, George Town. It is one of four projects to be carried out in the island’s heritage zone, a move that could threaten Penang’s World Heritage Site listing.

Under stringent heritage guidelines sent to the committee in August 2007, a maximum height of 18m or roughly five storeys was set for new buildings in the two zones.

“The guidelines were not made widely known when they were first put in place. Only when George Town’s Unesco status was approved did we realise the guidelines,” Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said after a dialogue session with the Heritage Steering Committee’s

Advisory Panel yesterday.“Now, we’re caught in a conundrum. If we allow the buildings to go ahead, we may risk the status, but if we stop the buildings, we could be sued for hundreds of millions which will definitely bankrupt the local council.

“We’re damned if we do, and damned if we don’t.”

The four hotels are the Rice Miller boutique hotel in Weld Quay and the Boustead Royale Bintang Hotel project behind the General Post Office in Lebuh Downing, both lying in the heritage core zone, and the E&O Hotel extension and 23-storey hotel in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah by the Low Yat Group in the buffer zone, both of which will be 84.4m high.

Lim said three of the four hotels were approved by the previous state administration while the Boustead building was approved on June 26, less than two weeks before the Unesco status was granted.

He said the state was now looking to the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry for direction.

“Although the state wants to take active measures to alleviate the problem, we cannot plunge in recklessly. The legal situation has to be studied carefully and it does not seem to favour us.”

Unesco regional adviser for the Asia-Pasific Dr Richard Engelhardt, who was present at the dialogue, said George Town had no choice but to follow the guidelines approved by the WHC.

“When the status is approved, the guidelines trump all previous existing regulations. Why would you apply for the status if there was no intention of following the guidelines?

“If the state decides to go along with the high-rises, I’m sure it will be called up by the WHC to explain why it allowed such a thing and whether it is compatible with the preservation of heritage,” he said.

“The worst-case scenario is that George Town is delisted, but that is not the usual situation as when a site applies for World Heritage status, it is interested in preserving the heritage,” he added. -the end-

From the above article, we can see that someone in the state planning department didn't do their work well. If Penang State is trying to apply for the status, the state government should had been very stringent when approving development of this sorts that might goes against the heritage site guidelines from the very 1st day when the state is applying for the title.

But we can't put all the blame on the state government alone because UNESCO should had been well aware of all the on going development before declaring George Town as a world heritage site, and if they had known the on-going development from the beginning and still go ahead with the issuing of heritage site title to G.Town, one can really smell something fishy going on!

And we all should also feel curious about why G.Town suddenly receive the UNESCO Heritage Site Title right after the change of state government administrative. The previous administrative had applied for the title years ago, back then G.Town wasn't in such a sorry state that it was now. (congested with cars, reduced number of residents and commercial usage, large number of vacant buildings, what kind of heritage are we talking about when there are no tradisional commercial activities and sociol-economy). If we do the comparison, Penang State should had obtain the title years ago and not now. This leave us with a very big question, "Why G.Town can obtain the title and based on what sorts of heritage that was left ?"

If we observe clearly, we can see that all the site that are been proposed to be developed are all sites that are all long vacant and requires large amount of funding to rebuild them, if all the private investor is going to invest and inject new economic growth into G.Town, I personally feel that it is going to benefit Penangnites more ! compared to the World Heritage Title. But if both can work seamlessly together then it will really spruce up G.Town tourism industry and that will really benefit everyone.

Therefore, I think the best solution to the problem of contradicting with heritage guidlines is to have both parties sit down and talk about the problem, and attempt to obatin some kind of waiver for this badge of already approved development and try to work with the architects, planners and especially the local residents that are directly involved in this heritage zone to reduce the impact of this new development to the heritage zones.