He rubbished the Penang government’s claim that the mitigation works on “Botak Hill” was a costly penalty on the developer for carrying out illegal hill clearing.
Oh said now that the controversial hill had been rezoned for housing development and if the developer built 30 units of three-storey bungalows, fulfilling the low-density requirements, then the RM50 million mitigation project costs would become part of the company’s investment.
Botak Hill proved to be a major environmental controversy and embarrassment for the state government in May 2013 when a large area atop the hill was cleared illegally.
The bald patch was, and is still, visible even from the Penang Bridge.
The developer was charged in court and fined. The state authorities also ordered the company to carry out mitigation works to restore the damaged hill.
“Even if the developer was not found guilty by the court, the developer concerned will still have to spend similar amounts to clear and reinforce the hill before they can embark on any construction work.
“If the developer concerned was blacklisted after he was found guilty by the court for illegal clearing of the hilly lands, do you think he will spend RM50 million to mitigate the damages to Botak Hill?”
He said state senior executive councillor Chow Kon Yeow had a public duty to clarify the rationale behind the state government’s approval to rezone the illegally-clearly hill into a housing development zone.
He urged Chow, who is charge of local government, traffic management and flood mitigation, to elaborate on the height above sea level and the areas of these two parcels of lands, that is Lots 11395 & 11396.
He said Gerakan had always suspected something amiss, especially when the developer was not blacklisted by the state authorities after the company was found guilty by the court of illegally clearing the controversial hill.
“Now, the cat is out of the bag.”
He said it was rather amusing for the people to have witnessed the drama of “ostensible collusion between the authority and the businessman” now on show in Penang.
The state’s slogans of “Green Penang” and “Environmental Protection” remained mere rhetoric — a reflection of the “words not matching the deeds” policy by the state authority, he alleged.
Recently, Chow was quoted as saying that the state authorities had not received any development project plans from any developer for Bukit Relau.
If that is true, Oh called on the state government, especially Chow and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, to announce that the two parcels of land could only be approved for building low-density houses costing RM72,500.
He said this would provide an opportunity for the low- and middle-income people to live on the hill and enjoy a panoramic sea view from Bukit Relau.
“In that case, will the developers concerned submit any housing development proposal?
“Penangites should by now see the Pakatan state government’s true colours on how it colludes with the business fraternity to deprive the rights of people and ignore their interests.”