Chow said Hong Kong had a major landslide in the 1970s which killed nearly a hundred but was now technologically-advanced to build even on the steepest slopes after treating such disasters as valuable lessons.
Penang Forum steering committee member Khoo Salma Nasution took to Facebook today to issue a “brief reply” to Chow “since he doesn’t listen to NGOs”.
“Hong Kong may have learnt from its landslides, but Penang didn’t learn from Granito,” Khoo wrote, referring to the Granito project which made headlines last October following a fatal landslide at the construction site at Tanjung Bungah. Eleven lives were lost.
“Hence, it allowed Bukit Kukus to happen under the watch of MBPP (Penang Island City Council),” she said.
Last month, nine workers died in a landslide at a road construction site on a hill slope in Bukit Kukus, Paya Terubong, on Penang island.
The official cause of the incident is yet to be known and is pending a state and police investigation. However, experts have claimed that proper hill-cutting procedures were not adhered to.
NGO: Many people live on mainland
Yesterday, Chow also touched on Penang’s projected population in the next 10 to 20 years in its Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), which the Penang Forum had said was unrealistic and high.
Chow had said the population projection by the project delivery partner of the PTMP was based on data from the Statistics Department.
He said official numbers show Penang had a population of 1.7 million last year and this is expected to grow by 25,000 to 30,000, or at a 1.5-2.5% rate each year in coming years.
“NGOs sometimes pluck figures from the sky, without referring to official statistics,” Chow said, adding that the government has to plan now to meet the needs of 2.2 to 2.4 million people in Penang by 2030.
Khoo said NGOs like Penang Forum had “plucked” the population statistics from the Statistics Department, “whereas the state prefers to repeat the grossly erroneous 2015 projections which property investors like to hear”.
“The island cannot hold two plus million people. Many Penangites actually live in Seberang Perai (on the mainland).
“The state wants to take a RM1 billion federal loan to carry out RM16.4 billion worth of projects. So, please reveal your financing and project completion schedules to assure us the state won’t go bankrupt in the meantime.
“After STP2 (Seri Tanjung Pinang Phase II) island reclamation and selling Jerejak, the state can’t wait to sell its three islands being reclaimed to interested parties… need I say more?”
The STP2 is a 304ha reclamation project approved “in principle” by the Penang government in April 2011.
The Penang Forum had previously raised concerns over an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report of the STP 2, including on sedimentation, erosion and how it affected the coast’s wildlife.
Despite a series of engagements, the STP 2 project was approved by the Department of Environment in April 2014. The reclamation project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, on Jerajak Island, which was once used to house the country’s main leprosy sanatorium, Chow had previously said a developer was looking to turn the southern portion of the island into a theme park, as part of a larger master plan.
This plan was submitted to the state government by landowners Tropical Island Resort Sdn Bhd in August 2016.
The master plan, which includes a bridge from the Bayan Mutiara area, was approved although Chow said local authorities had yet to receive a request for planning permission for the theme park.
He said an EIA of the entire project was submitted to the DoE on June 21 and was approved on July 20.