“However, I still maintain the visit should be to the northeast coastal areas where the hills are facing tremendous pressure because of the many projects coming up,” he said. Wong said any additional project, regardless of its height, would affect the hills. “As a Penangite, I take a deep concern over the toll on the hills at the northeast coastal area,” he said

Sunday June 17, 2012

Rival hikes for journalists to prove a point over hills

GEORGE TOWN: The DAP took a group of journalists to have a closer look at Penang Hill to prove the party's point that the hills in Penang are not dying.

Not to be outdone, Gerakan also plans to bring journalists to Tanjung Bungah and Batu Ferringhi in the next several days to show, on the contrary, how the hillslopes had been devastated.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, along with state executive councillor Phee Boon Poh and a group of Penang Municipal Council representatives, hiked up to Station 3 of the Penang Municipal Park (commonly known as Youth Park), located some 248m above sea level here yesterday.

"The hills in Penang are not dying. Even when you look down from here, you can't see any development because we (the state) have not approved any building development above 76.2m," Lim said.

He reiterated that 19 upcoming developments that were above 76m were approved by the previous Barisan Nasional administration as "special projects".

"Of course, we are unhappy about this but we are unable to stop these developments as we are liable to be sued," he added.

State Gerakan local government bureau head Teh Leong Meng said they had originally planned to bring the journalists today but had to postpone it in order to get "clarification".

Lim also issued an open invitation to Star Publications (M) Bhd executive director and group chief editor Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai to go hiking with him whenever the latter was in the state.

This came about after The Star reported on hillslope development issues in the state. Wong had written about the hills development issue in his Sunday column On the Beat on June 10.

He thanked the state government for inviting him to join the Penang Hill trek.

Wong had e-mailed Phee on Thursday to say he was unable to take part because of the short notice.

"However, I still maintain the visit should be to the northeast coastal areas where the hills are facing tremendous pressure because of the many projects coming up," he said.

Wong said any additional project, regardless of its height, would affect the hills.

"As a Penangite, I take a deep concern over the toll on the hills at the northeast coastal area," he said.

Wong said the impact was staring at those who lived along the stretch from Tanjung Bungah up to Teluk Bahang.

He said the previous Barisan Nasional and present Pakatan Rakyat state government should take responsibility over the issue.

Wong urged the present state government to listen to the views of resident associations, especially the Tanjung Bungah Residents Asso­ciation.

On Wednesday, Tanjung Bungah assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu had lashed out against hillslope projects in Penang, particularly in the northeast coastal area, and the proposed construction of a 49-storey "super condo" on the Batu Ferringhi seafront.

On June 4, the Consumers Association of Penang and Sahabat Alam Malaysia said Penang was becoming uninhabitable due to "mindless development".