Citizen Awareness Chant Group (Chant) said despite the landowner having significantly rehabilitated a large portion of the hill facing the Penang Bridge, the back unseen portion remained desolate.
Chant said this was based on pictures of the 968m-hilltop taken by “friends of Chant”.
Chant group legal adviser Yan Lee said the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) should provide an update on the work carried out on the barren hill so far.
“The public needs to know if the landowner has fulfilled its duty to replant trees not just in the front where it is visible, but also what lies behind, which is unseen from afar,” he said at a press conference here today.
Bukit Relau was dubbed Bukit Botak (bald hill) after its top was illegally cleared by the landowner in 2013.
The city council took the landowner to court and the development company was fined and ordered to conduct mitigation to rehabilitate the huge bald patch.
Lee also asked about the state Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on management of hill lands, which has yet to be tabled at the state assembly.
He said all state assemblypersons had been furnished with a copy of the report during the May sitting of the state assembly.
“Thanks to Penanti YB Norlela Ariffin, part of the report has been made public on Facebook.
“So based on what she has put up, the committee appears to have made some observations on the hill rehabilitation on Bukit Relau and other matters concerning hill land as well,” Lee said.
Lee said among remarks by the PAC were lack of hydroseeding and geotextile covering. He said the committee also ordered more grass seeds to be planted and the drains and gulleys to be repaired.
“We hope the full PAC report will be tabled at the assembly and made available to the public.
“And we also hope the city council will ensure the landowner does a thorough rehabilitation of the hill,” he said.
Between February and May 2013, a football-field sized portion (0.8ha) of Bukit Relau was cleared.
The then Penang Island Municipal Council responded by saying that the landowner had started work without a commencement of work certificate and as such any clearing activity was illegal.
In 2013, the Sessions Court found that the landowner, General Accomplishment Sdn Bhd, had failed to submit an earthworks plan, as required by Section 70A of the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974. It was slapped with a RM30,000 fine. This amount was later raised to RM50,000.
The landowner was told to adhere to special mitigation steps recommended by the state’s Hillside Geotechnical Advisory Panel to reverse the damage done.
It was reported that the 23ha hill was rezoned from hill land to low-density housing land in 2012 by the State Planning Committee.
Later, the state government justified the approval saying it was merely matching the adjacent piece of land zoning to residential. The other plot of land was zoned as residential during the time of the previous BN state government.
FMT has contacted MBPP Mayor Maimunah Mohd Sharif for comment and is awaiting her response.