Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy (DAP-Perai) said the state government had put aside RM800,000 to build a gallery featuring the adaptation of marine life there 5,000 years ago.
He said the Penang Government had undertaken the project after failing to get federal funding, with a request put to the Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz in 2013.
“This site is not just an important historical site for Penang, but for the entire Asian region.
“The investment is to ensure that early conservation of the site takes place and it is well taken care of.”
Ramasamy said the gallery, covering 2,500 sq ft, will be set up on the site, using recycled materials, with the original structures reused and retained wherever possible.
He added an access road to the site, widening of existing roads, parking lots for two buses and 10 cars and pathways for the disabled will be also provided.
“The gallery will be managed by Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Global Archaeology Research Centre with the aid of the state government.
“The university will also decide if 41 human bones, which were taken to Leiden, Netherlands, for study would be brought back to Guar Kepah,” Ramasamy said.
Besides the stone-age site, the Penang Government will also promote the existing jackfruit and guava orchards surrounding the site, he added.
The 2.4-acre site in the North Seberang Prai district was alienated to Chief Minister Incorporated on Oct 12, 2012. It was previously classified as a temporary occupation licence land.
The cost of building the eco-tourism site will be RM776,994 and will be fully borne by the state government. The galleries will be built at a cost of RM300,000 and the infrastructure costs are pegged at RM476,994.
Construction will be completed at the end of this year and the site will be open to public in early 2017.
The site is located near Penaga, half an hour’s drive away from Butterworth, near the Kedah border up north.
The Neolithic era is considered to be the last period of the Stone Age before the discovery of metal tools led humans into the Bronze Age.
A thick layer of shell middens were first discovered by British colonial officer G.W. Earl in 1860 and the spot became Malaysia’s first archaeological excavation site. The 41 skeletons were excavated from the site after Earl’s discovery.