TBRA president Zulfikar Abdul Aziz said in April 2018, then chief minister Lim Guan Eng had announced that the state government would build a 9,000 sq metre green park, a boardwalk and an open concrete stage there.

He added that Lim promised the project would be completed by the end of the same year.

“Parks fulfil many functions and raise the quality of life for the local community. This is so important, especially with growing traffic and urban heat damaging the environment.

“Penang must counterbalance some of the massive construction in our city over the past 10 years. That is why we demand that the former chief minister’s promise from four years ago be fulfilled,” he said.

Earlier, Zulfikar and some 50 others held up placards asking the state government to fulfil its promise and not allow any commercial development at the site.

The proposed park was to be built on reclaimed land facing the sea near the Cove Condominium and Penang Swimming Club.

According to the Penang government’s official website, on April 6, 2018 Lim had indeed announced that a “seaside pocket park” costing RM500,000 would be built, with the project to be carried out by Chief Minister Incorporated.

Meanwhile, in an immediate response, Tanjung Bungah assemblyman Zairil Khir Johari said a developer building a five-story wellness facility on private land adjacent to the site had been entrusted to build the public park.

“The park will be much better and more elaborate than the original plan. A final design would be shown to the nearby residents when it is ready,” he told FMT.

Zairil said with the developer stepping in, the state would not need to spend a single sen, and the public park would be open to all.